Electronic component mounting method and apparatus

ABSTRACT

A chip is bonded on a circuit board by aligning in position bumps with board electrodes with interposition of an anisotropic conductive layer between the chip and the circuit board. The anisotropic conductive layer is a mixture of an insulating resin, conductive particles and an inorganic filler. The chip is pressed against the board with a pressure force of not smaller than 20 gf per bump by virtue of a tool, while warp of the chip and the board is connected, the bumps are compressed, and the insulating resin is hardened.

This application is a divisional of U.S. Ser. No. 09/890,066, filed Jul.26, 2001, which is a National Stage of International Application No.PCT/JP00/00372, filed Jan. 26, 2000.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an electronic component method andapparatus for mounting on a circuit board an electronic component of,for example, an IC chip and a surface acoustic wave (SAW) device on anelectronic circuit use printed board (referred to as a “board” as arepresentative example in the present specification, and the “board”means a mounting base object on which other components such as aninterposer and/or an electronic component are mounted) in a single body(a bear IC in the case of an IC chip) state, and relates to anelectronic component unit obtained by mounting the electronic componentson the board by the mounting method.

BACKGROUND ART

In these days, electronic circuit boards have come to be used in varioussorts of products, and the performance thereof has been improved day byday with increased frequencies used on the circuit boards. Flip chipmounting, which provides reduced impedance, is a mounting methodsuitable for electronic equipment that uses high frequencies. There isalso demanded flip chip mounting for mounting on a circuit board an ICchip not in a package style but in a bear component style in compliancewith the increase in number of portable devices. For this reason, whenIC chips are mounted as a single chip on a circuit board or mounted onelectronic equipment and a flat panel display, the IC chips include acertain amount of defective ones. Other than the flip chip, CSP (ChipSize Package), BGA (Ball Grid Array) and so on have been increasinglyemployed.

As a conventional method for bonding an IC chip onto the circuit boardof electronic equipment (first prior art), there is the method disclosedin Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 06-66355 and so on. This isshown in FIG. 15. As shown in FIG. 15, there is generally known themethod of transferring an Ag paste 74 onto an IC chip 71 provided withbumps 73 for connection to electrodes 75 of a circuit board 76,thereafter hardening the Ag paste 74 and thereafter pouring anencapsulating material 78 between the IC chip 71 and the circuit board76.

As a method for connecting an IC chip to a liquid crystal display(second prior art), as disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent PublicationNo. 62-6652 shown in FIG. 16A and FIG. 16B, there is generally known asemiconductor chip connection structure in which an anisotropicconductive film 80 is employed, and by peeling off an anisotropicconducting adhesive layer 81 constituted by adding conductive minutesegments 82 into an insulating resin 83 from a separator 85 and applyingthe film onto a board or the glass of a liquid crystal display 84 andthermocompression-bonding an IC chip 86, the anisotropic conductingadhesive layer 81 is interposed between a lower surface of the IC chip86 and the board 84 except for spaces under the Au bump 87.

As a third prior art, there is known a method for applying a UV-curingresin onto a board, hardening the resin located between the two by UVirradiation while mounting an IC chip on it with pressurization, andmaintaining a contact between the two by the contracting force of theresin.

As described above, the IC chip bonding has been performed by performingthe processes of die-bonding an IC chip of a flat package or the likeonto a lead frame, connecting the electrodes of the IC chip to the leadframe by wire bonding, forming a package with resin encapsulation,thereafter printing a solder paste on the circuit board, mounting theflat package IC thereon, and subjecting the IC to reflow. According tothe above-mentioned method called SMT (Surface Mount Technology), theprocess of packaging the IC is long and requires much time for theproduction of IC components, and it has been difficult to miniaturizethe circuit board. For example, an IC chip encapsulated in a flat packoccupies an area about four to ten times greater than that of the ICchip, and this has been a factor of hindering the miniaturization.

In contrast to this, the flip chip method for mounting an IC chip in abear chip style directly on a board for the reduction of process and thereduction in size and weight has come to be adopted lately. With regardto this flip chip method, there are developed many processing methodssuch as stud bump bonding (SBB) for performing bump formation on an ICchip, bump leveling, Ag.Pd paste transfer, mounting, inspection,encapsulation with encapsulation resin, and inspection and UV resinbonding for concurrently performing bump formation on an IC chip andUV-curing resin coating on a board and thereafter performing mounting,UV-curing of resin and inspection.

However, any of the processing methods has had the drawback that muchtime is required for the hardening of the paste for bonding the bumps ofthe IC chip to the electrodes of the board and for the coating andhardening of the encapsulation resin, leading to degraded productivity.There has also been the issue that ceramic or glass of which thequantity of warp is controlled is needed as a circuit board, leading tocost increase.

Moreover, according to the processing method that uses a conductivitypaste as in the first prior art for the bonding material, it has beenrequired to level and flatten the IC chip bumps before use in order tostabilize the quantity of transfer.

Moreover, in the bonding structure with an anisotropic conductingadhesive as in the second prior art, there has been developed one thatemploys glass as a board material of the circuit board. It is requiredto hold conductive particles between the IC chip side electrode and theboard side electrode for electric continuity between the electrodes, andtherefore, it is required to uniformly disperse the conductive particlesin the conductive adhesive. However, it is difficult to uniformlydisperse the conductive particles in the conductive adhesive, and thishas disadvantageously caused short circuit due to the abnormaldispersion of the particles and led to the expensive cost of theconductive adhesive and the necessity of the formation of the IC chipbumps by electroplating in order to shape the height of the bumps.

Moreover, according to the method of performing bonding using aUV-curing resin as in the third prior art, it is required to set a bumpheight variation within a range of ±1 (μm), and there has been the issuethat the bonding cannot be achieved in the case of a board of a degradedflatness such as a resin board (glass epoxy board). Moreover, accordingto the method using solder, it has been required to pour and harden theencapsulation resin in order to alleviate the thermal expansion andshrinkage difference between the board and the IC chip after bonding. Atime of two to eight hours has been needed for the hardening of theencapsulation resin, and this has led to the issue that the productivityis extremely degraded.

Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to solve theaforementioned issues and provide an electronic component mountingmethod and apparatus for bonding electronic components to circuit boardswith high productivity and high reliability by interposing ananisotropic conductive layer that has conductive particles needingneither a resin encapsulation process for pouring a resin between anelectronic component and a board nor a bump leveling process for shapingthe bump height after the electronic component is bonded to the circuitboard as well as an electronic component unit obtained by mounting theelectronic component on the board by the above-mentioned mountingmethod.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accomplishing these and other aspects, the present invention isconstructed as follows.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method comprising:

-   -   forming a ball at a tip of a metal wire by an electric spark        similarly to wire bonding and forming a bump by        thermocompression-bonding the formed ball to an electrode of an        electronic component with supersonic waves by means of a        capillary;    -   mounting the electronic component on a circuit board by aligning        in position the electrode of the electronic component with an        electrode of the board with interposition of an anisotropic        conductive layer in which an insulating resin mixed with an        inorganic filler is mixed with a conductive particle; and    -   subsequently bonding the electronic component to the circuit        board by hardening the insulating resin of the anisotropic        conductive layer interposed between the electronic component and        the circuit board while correcting warp of the board and        crushing the bump with a pressure force of not smaller than 20        gf per bump applied to the electronic component against the        circuit board by means of a tool and heat applied from the        electronic component side or heat applied from the board side or        heat applied from both the electronic component side and the        board side, so that the electrode of the electronic component is        electrically connected with the electrode of the circuit board.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in the first aspect,wherein, before mounting the electronic component on the board byaligning in position the electrode of the electronic component with theelectrode of the circuit board with interposition of the anisotropicconductive layer after the formation of the bump,

-   -   a tip of the formed bump is shaped so as to prevent collapse of        a neck portion of the bump by once pressurizing the bump with a        load of not greater than 20 gf.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in the first orsecond aspect, wherein

-   -   the insulating resin of the anisotropic conductive layer is an        insulative thermosetting epoxy resin, and an amount of the        inorganic filler mixed with this insulative thermosetting epoxy        resin is 5 to 90 wt % of the insulative thermosetting epoxy        resin.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in any one of thefirst through third aspects, wherein

-   -   the insulating resin of the anisotropic conductive layer is in a        liquid form when applied to the board, and after        semi-solidifying the resin by hardening the liquid of the        applied insulating resin with the board placed in a furnace or        by pressurizing the liquid of the applied insulating resin by        means of a heated tool after the application to the board, the        electronic component is mounted on the board.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method comprising:

-   -   forming a ball at a tip of a metal wire by an electric spark        similarly to wire bonding and forming a gold bump by        thermocompression-bonding the formed ball to an electrode of an        electronic component with supersonic waves by means of a        capillary;    -   mounting the electronic component on a circuit board by aligning        in position the electrode of the electronic component with an        electrode of the board with interposition of an anisotropic        conductive layer in which an insulating resin mixed with an        inorganic filler is mixed with a conductive particle without        leveling the formed bump;    -   subsequently metallically bonding the gold bump to the electrode        of the board with supersonic waves applied while shaping a tip        so as to prevent collapse of a neck portion of the gold bump        with a load applied from an upper surface side of the electronic        component by means of a tool; and    -   subsequently bonding the electronic component to the circuit        board by hardening the insulating resin of the anisotropic        conductive layer interposed between the electronic component and        the circuit board while correcting warp of the board and        crushing the bump with a pressure force of not smaller than 20        gf per bump applied to the electronic component against the        circuit board and heat applied from the upper surface side of        the electronic component or heat applied from the board side or        heat applied from both the electronic component side and the        board side, so that the electrode of the electronic component is        electrically connected with the electrode of the circuit board.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in any one of thefirst through fifth aspects, wherein the electronic component has aplurality of electrodes, a solid anisotropic conductive film sheet thathas a configurational dimension smaller than an outline dimensiondefined by joining the plurality of electrodes of the electroniccomponent is stuck as the anisotropic conductive layer to the circuitboard before the positional alignment and thereafter subjected to thepositional alignment, and at the bonding time, the insulating resininterposed between the electronic component and the circuit board ishardened by pressurizing the electronic component against the circuitboard with heat applied to the anisotropic conductive film sheet whileconcurrently correcting the warp of the circuit board, so that theelectronic component is bonded to the circuit board.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an electronic component mounting method as defined in any oneof the first through sixth aspects, wherein the gold bump that has anapproximately conically shaped tip is formed on the electrode of theelectronic component by means of the capillary that has a chamfer angleof not greater than 100° when a gold ball is formed by an electric sparkat a tip of a gold wire similarly to the wire bonding in forming thebump on the electronic component and a tip shape provided with no flatportion to be brought in contact with the gold ball.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an electronic component mounting method comprising:

-   -   forming a ball at a tip of a metal wire by an electric spark        similarly to wire bonding and forming a bump on an electrode of        an electronic component by means of a capillary by the formed        ball;    -   mounting the electronic component on a circuit board by aligning        in position the electrode of the electronic component with an        electrode of the board with interposition of an anisotropic        conductive layer in which an insulating resin mixed with an        inorganic filler is mixed with a conductive particle without        leveling the formed bump;    -   subsequently hardening the insulating resin of the anisotropic        conductive layer interposed between the electronic component and        the circuit board while correcting warp of the board with a        pressure P1 applied as a pressure force to the electronic        component against the circuit board and heat applied from an        upper surface of the electronic component by means of a tool        heated to a specified temperature; and    -   subsequently bonding the electronic component to the circuit        board while alleviating a stress when hardening the insulating        resin of the anisotropic conductive layer by reducing the        pressure force to a pressure P2 lower than the pressure P1 after        a lapse of a specified time, so that the electrode of the        electronic component is electrically connected with the        electrode of the circuit board.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in the eighth aspect,wherein the pressure P1 is not smaller than 20 gf per bump, and thepressure P2 is not greater than one-half the pressure P1.

According to a 10th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting apparatus comprising:

-   -   a device for sticking an anisotropic conductive layer, in which        an insulating resin mixed with an inorganic filler is mixed with        a conductive particle, to an electrode of a circuit board or an        electronic component;    -   a device for forming a bump, without leveling, by forming a ball        by an electric spark at a tip of a metal wire on an electrode of        the electronic component similarly to wire bonding and forming        by thermocompression-bonding this to the electrode of the board        with supersonic waves by means of a capillary;    -   a device for mounting the electronic component on the electrode        of the circuit board through positional alignment; and a device        for bonding the electronic component to the circuit board by        hardening the insulating resin of the anisotropic conductive        layer interposed between the electronic component and the        circuit board while correcting warp of the board with a pressure        force of not smaller than 20 gf per bump applied to the        electronic component against the circuit board and with heating        by means of the tool, so that the electrode of the electronic        component is electrically connected with the electrode of the        circuit board.

According to an 11th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting apparatus comprising:

-   -   a device for sticking an anisotropic conductive layer, in which        an insulating resin mixed with an inorganic filler is mixed with        a conductive particle, to an electrode of a circuit board or an        electronic component;    -   a device for forming a gold bump, without leveling, by forming a        ball by an electric spark at a tip of a metal wire on an        electrode of the electronic component similarly to wire bonding        and forming by thermocompression-bonding this to the electrode        of the board with supersonic waves by means of a capillary;    -   a device for mounting the electronic component on the electrode        of the circuit board through positional alignment;    -   a device for metallically bonding the gold bump to the electrode        of the board with supersonic waves applied while shaping the tip        so as to prevent collapse of a neck portion of the gold bump        with a load applied from an upper surface of the electronic        component by means of a tool; and    -   a device for bonding the electronic component to the circuit        board by hardening the insulating resin of the anisotropic        conductive layer interposed between the electronic component and        the circuit board while correcting warp of the board and        crushing the bump with a pressure force of not smaller than 20        gf per bump applied to the electronic component against the        circuit board with heating by means of the tool, so that the        electrode of the electronic component is electrically connected        with the electrode of the circuit board.

According to a 12th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in any one of the10th through 11th aspects, wherein

-   -   the device for forming the gold ball has the capillary, which        has a tip shape provided with no flat portion to be brought in        contact with the gold ball and of which a chamfer angle is not        greater than 100°, and the gold bump that has an approximately        conically shaped tip is formed on the electrode of the        electronic component by the capillary.

According to a 13th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting apparatus comprising:

-   -   a device for sticking an anisotropic conductive layer, in which        an insulating resin mixed with an inorganic filler is mixed with        a conductive particle, to a circuit board or an electronic        component;    -   a device for forming a bump, without leveling, by forming a ball        by an electric spark at a tip of a metal wire on an electrode of        the electronic component similarly to wire bonding and forming        this on the electrode of the board by means of a capillary;    -   a device for mounting the electronic component on the electrode        of the circuit board through positional alignment; and    -   a device for hardening the insulating resin interposed between        the electronic component and the circuit board while correcting        warp of the board with a pressure P1 applied as a pressure force        to the electronic component against the circuit board and heat        applied from an upper surface of the electronic component by        means of a tool heated to a specified temperature and        subsequently bonding the electronic component to the circuit        board while alleviating a stress caused when hardening the        insulating resin of the anisotropic conductive layer by reducing        the pressure force to a pressure P2 lower than the pressure P1        after a lapse of a specified time, so that the electrode of the        electronic component is electrically connected with the        electrode of the circuit board.

According to a 14th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in any one of thefirst through third aspects, wherein a mean particle diameter of theinorganic filler mixed with the insulating resin of the anisotropicconductive layer is not smaller than 3 μm.

According to a 15th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in any one of thefirst through third and 14th aspects, wherein the inorganic filler mixedwith the insulating resin of the anisotropic conductive layer iscomprised of at least two types of inorganic fillers that have aplurality of different mean particle diameters, and a mean particlediameter of one inorganic filler out of at least two types of inorganicfillers is not less than two times different from a mean particlediameter of the other inorganic filler out of at least two types ofinorganic fillers.

According to a 16th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in any one of thefirst through third, 14th, and 15th aspects, wherein the anisotropicconductive layer has a portion brought in contact with either theelectronic component or the board, the portion having a smaller amountof inorganic filler than that of the other portion.

According to a 17th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in the 16th aspect,wherein the anisotropic conductive layer has a portion brought incontact with both the electronic component and the board, the portionhaving a smaller amount of inorganic filler than that of the otherportion.

According to an 18th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component unit, wherein an electrode of an electroniccomponent is electrically connected to an electrode of a circuit boardwith a bump formed on the electrode of the electronic component andbonded to the electrode of the circuit board in a state in which thebump is crushed with interposition of an anisotropic conductive layer,in which an insulating resin is mixed with an inorganic filler andhardened, and

-   -   the anisotropic conductive layer has a portion brought in        contact with either the electronic component or the board, the        portion having a smaller amount of inorganic filler than that of        the other portion.

According to a 19th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component unit, wherein an electrode of an electroniccomponent is electrically connected to an electrode of a circuit boardwith a bump formed on the electrode of the electronic component andbonded to the electrode of the circuit board in a state in which thebump is crushed with interposition of an anisotropic conductive layer,in which an insulating resin is mixed with an inorganic filler andhardened, and

-   -   the anisotropic conductive layer comprises: a first resin layer,        which is positioned in a portion brought in contact with either        the electronic component or the board and in which an insulating        resin identical to the insulating resin is mixed with the        inorganic filler; and a second resin layer, which is in contact        with the first resin layer and is made of an insulating resin        whose amount of the inorganic filler is less than that of the        first resin layer.

According to a 20th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in any one of thefirst through ninth and 14th through 17th aspects, wherein the bump is abump formed by plating or printing.

According to a 21st aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component unit as defined in any one of the 18th through19th aspects, wherein the bump is a bump formed by plating or printing.

According to a 22nd aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in any one of thefirst through ninth, 14th through 17th, and 20th aspects, wherein theanisotropic conductive layer is provided by mixing the solid insulatingresin mixed with the inorganic filler with a conductive particle thathas a mean diameter greater than a mean particle diameter of theinorganic filler.

According to a 23rd aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting apparatus as defined in any one of the10th through 12th aspects, wherein the anisotropic conductive layer isprovided by mixing the solid insulating resin mixed with the inorganicfiller with a conductive particle that has a mean diameter greater thana mean particle diameter of the inorganic filler.

According to a 24th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component unit as defined in any one of the 18th through19th and 21st aspects, wherein the anisotropic conductive layer isprovided by mixing the solid insulating resin mixed with the inorganicfiller with a conductive particle that has a mean diameter greater thana mean particle diameter of the inorganic filler.

According to a 25th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method comprising:

-   -   forming a ball at a tip of a metal wire by an electric spark        similarly to wire bonding and forming a bump by        thermocompression-bonding the formed ball to an electrode of an        electronic component with supersonic waves by means of a        capillary;    -   mounting the electronic component on a circuit board while        aligning in position the electrode of the electronic component        with an electrode of the board with interposition of a solid or        semi-solid insulating resin layer in which an insulating resin        is mixed with an inorganic filler without leveling the formed        bump; and    -   subsequently bonding the electronic component to the circuit        board by hardening the insulating resin layer interposed between        the electronic component and the circuit board while correcting        warp of the board and crushing the bump with a pressure force of        not smaller than 20 gf per bump applied to the electronic        component against the circuit board by means of a tool and heat        applied from the electronic component side or heat applied from        the board side or heat applied from both the electronic        component side and the board side, so that the electrode of the        electronic component is electrically connected with the        electrode of electrically connected the circuit board.

According to a 26th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in the 25th aspect,wherein, before mounting the electronic component on the board whilealigning in position the electrode of the electronic component with theelectrode of the circuit board with interposition of the solid orsemi-solid insulating resin layer in which the insulating resin is mixedwith the inorganic filler after the formation of the bump,

-   -   a tip of the formed bump is shaped so as to prevent collapse of        a neck portion of the bump by once pressurizing the bump with a        load of not greater than 20 gf.

According to a 27th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in the 25th or 26thaspect, wherein

-   -   the insulating resin is an insulative thermosetting epoxy resin,        and an amount of the inorganic filler mixed with this insulative        thermosetting epoxy resin is 5 to 90 wt % of the insulative        thermosetting epoxy resin.

According to a 28th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method comprising:

-   -   forming a ball at a tip of a metal wire by an electric spark        similarly to wire bonding and forming a gold bump by        thermocompression-bonding the formed ball to an electrode of an        electronic component with supersonic waves by means of a        capillary;    -   mounting the electronic component on a circuit board while        aligning in position the electrode of the electronic component        with an electrode of the board with interposition of a solid or        semi-solid insulating resin layer in which an insulating resin        is mixed with an inorganic filler without leveling the formed        bump;    -   subsequently metallically bonding the gold bump to the electrode        of the board with supersonic waves applied while shaping the tip        so as to prevent collapse of a neck portion of the gold bump        with a load applied from an upper surface side of the electronic        component by means of a tool; and    -   subsequently bonding the electronic component to the circuit        board by hardening the insulating resin interposed between the        electronic component and the circuit board while correcting warp        of the board and crushing the bump with a pressure force of not        smaller than 20 gf per bump applied to the electronic component        against the circuit board and heat applied from the upper        surface side of the electronic component or heat applied from        the board side or heat applied from both the electronic        component side and the board side, so that the electrode of the        electronic component is electrically connected with the        electrode of the circuit board.

According to a 29th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in any one of the25th through 28th aspects, wherein the electronic component has aplurality of electrodes, a solid insulating resin sheet that has aconfigurational dimension smaller than an outline dimension defined byjoining the plurality of electrodes of the electronic component is stuckas the insulating resin layer to the circuit board before the positionalalignment and thereafter subjected to the positional alignment, and atthe bonding time, the insulating resin interposed between the electroniccomponent and the circuit board is hardened while concurrentlycorrecting the warp of the circuit board by pressurizing the electroniccomponent against the circuit board with heat applied to the insulatingresin sheet, so that the electronic component is bonded to the circuitboard.

According to a 30th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in any one of the25th through 29th aspects, wherein the gold bump that has anapproximately conically shaped tip is formed on the electrode of theelectronic component by means of the capillary that has a chamfer angleof not greater than 100° when a gold ball is formed by an electric sparkat a tip of a gold wire similarly to the wire bonding in forming thebump on the electronic component and a tip shape provided with no flatportion to be brought in contact with the gold ball.

According to a 31st aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method comprising:

-   -   forming a ball at a tip of a metal wire by an electric spark        similarly to wire bonding and forming a bump on an electrode of        an electronic component by means of a capillary by the formed        ball;    -   mounting the electronic component on a circuit board while        aligning in position the electrode of the electronic component        with an electrode of the board with interposition of a solid or        semi-solid insulating resin layer in which an insulating resin        is mixed with an inorganic filler without leveling the formed        bump;    -   subsequently hardening the insulating resin interposed between        the electronic component and the circuit board while correcting        warp of the board with a pressure P1 applied as a pressure force        to the electronic component against the circuit board and heat        applied from an upper surface of the electronic component by        means of a tool heated to a specified temperature; and    -   subsequently bonding the electronic component to the circuit        board while alleviating a stress caused when hardening the        insulating resin by reducing the pressure force to a pressure P2        lower than the pressure P1 after a lapse of a specified time, so        that the electrode of the electronic component is electrically        connected with the electrode of the circuit board.

According to a 32nd aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in the 31st aspect,wherein the pressure P1 is not smaller than 20 gf per bump, and thepressure P2 is not greater than one-half the pressure P1.

According to a 33rd aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting apparatus comprising:

-   -   a device for sticking a solid or semi-solid insulating resin        layer, in which an insulating resin is mixed with an inorganic        filler, to an electrode of a circuit board or an electronic        component;    -   a device for forming a bump, without leveling, by forming a ball        by an electric spark at a tip of a metal wire on an electrode of        the electronic component similarly to wire bonding and forming        by thermocompression-bonding this to the electrode of the board        with supersonic waves by means of a capillary;    -   a device for mounting the electronic component on the electrode        of the circuit board through positional alignment; and    -   a device for bonding the electronic component to the circuit        board by hardening the insulating resin interposed between the        electronic component and the circuit board while correcting warp        of the board with a pressure force of not smaller than 20 gf per        bump applied to the electronic component against the circuit        board with heating by means of the tool, electrically connecting        the electrode of the electronic component with the electrode of        the circuit board.

According to a 34th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting apparatus comprising:

-   -   a device for sticking a solid or semi-solid insulating resin        layer, in which an insulating resin is mixed with an inorganic        filler, to an electrode of a circuit board or an electronic        component;    -   a device for forming a gold bump, without leveling, by forming a        ball by an electric spark at a tip of a metal wire on an        electrode of the electronic component similarly to wire bonding        and forming by thermocompression-bonding this to the electrode        of the board with supersonic waves by means of a capillary;    -   a device for mounting the electronic component on the electrode        of the circuit board through positional alignment;    -   a device for metallically bonding the gold bump to the electrode        of the board with supersonic waves applied while shaping the tip        so as to prevent collapse of a neck portion of the gold bump        with a load applied from an upper surface of the electronic        component by means of a tool; and    -   a device for bonding the electronic component to the circuit        board by hardening the insulating resin interposed between the        electronic component and the circuit board while correcting warp        of the board and crushing the bump with a pressure force of not        smaller than 20 gf per bump applied to the electronic component        against the circuit board with heating by means of the tool, so        that the electrode of the electronic component is electrically        connected with the electrode of the circuit board.

According to a 35th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting apparatus comprising:

-   -   a device for sticking a solid or semi-solid insulating resin        layer, in which an insulating resin is mixed with an inorganic        filler, to a circuit board or an electronic component;    -   a device for forming a bump, without leveling, by forming a ball        by an electric spark at a tip of a metal wire on an electrode of        the electronic component similarly to wire bonding and forming        this on the electrode of the board by means of a capillary;    -   a device for mounting the electronic component on the electrode        of the circuit board through positional alignment; and    -   a device for hardening the insulating resin interposed between        the electronic component and the circuit board while correcting        warp of the board with a pressure P1 applied as a pressure force        to the electronic component against the circuit board and heat        applied from an upper surface of the electronic component by        means of a tool heated to a specified temperature and        subsequently bonding the electronic component to the circuit        board while alleviating a stress caused when hardening the        insulating resin by reducing the pressure force to a pressure P2        lower than the pressure P1 after a lapse of a specified time, so        that the electrode of the electronic component is electrically        connected with the electrode of the circuit board.

According to a 36th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in any one of the25th through 27th aspects, wherein the inorganic filler mixed with theinsulating resin is provided by a plurality of types of inorganicfillers, which have different mean particle diameters.

According to a 37th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in any one of the25th through 27th and 36th aspects, wherein the insulating resin layerhas a portion brought in contact with either the electronic component orthe board, the portion having a smaller amount of inorganic filler thanthat of the other portion.

According to a 38th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in the 37th aspect,wherein the insulating resin layer has a portion brought in contact withboth the electronic component and the board, the portion having asmaller amount of inorganic filler than that of the other portion.

According to a 39th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in the 37th or 38thaspect, wherein the portion brought in contact with the electroniccomponent is provided by an insulating resin that improves adhesion to afilm material used on a surface of the electronic component, and theportion brought in contact with the board is provided by an insulatingresin that improves adhesion to a material used on a surface of theboard.

According to a 40th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in any one of the25th through 27th and 36th aspects, wherein the insulating resin layerhas a portion brought in contact with either the electronic component orthe board, the portion being mixed with no inorganic filler.

According to a 41st aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component unit, wherein an electrode of an electroniccomponent is electrically connected to an electrode of a circuit boardwith a bump formed on the electrode of the electronic component andbonded to the electrode of the circuit board in a state in which thebump is crushed with interposition of an insulating resin layer, inwhich an insulating resin is mixed with an inorganic filler andhardened, and

-   -   the insulating resin layer has a portion brought in contact with        either the electronic component or the board, the portion having        a smaller amount of inorganic filler than that of the other        portion.

According to a 42nd aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component unit, wherein an electrode of an electroniccomponent is electrically connected to an electrode of a circuit boardwith a bump formed on the electrode of the electronic component andbonded to the electrode of the circuit board in a state in which thebump is crushed with interposition of an insulating resin layer, inwhich an insulating resin is mixed with an inorganic filler andhardened, and

-   -   the insulating resin layer comprises: a first resin layer, which        is positioned in a portion brought in contact with either the        electronic component or the board and in which an insulating        resin identical to the insulating resin is mixed with the        inorganic filler; and a second resin layer, which is in contact        with the first resin layer and is made of an insulating resin        whose amount of the inorganic filler is less than that of the        first resin layer.

According to a 43rd aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting method as defined in the 5th or 28thaspect, wherein heating is effected from the upper surface side of theelectronic component or from the board side or from both the electroniccomponent side and the board side when metallically bonding the goldbump to the electrode of the board with supersonic waves applied.

According to a 44th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component unit, wherein the electronic component ismounted on the board by the electronic component mounting method definedin any one of the first through ninth, 14th through 17th, 25th through32nd, 36th through 40th and 43rd aspects.

According to a 45th aspect of the present invention, there is providedan electronic component mounting apparatus as defined in the 11th or34th aspect, wherein the apparatus for metallically bonding the goldbump to the electrode of the board with supersonic waves appliedcomprises a heating member for effecting heating from the upper surfaceside of the electronic component or from the board side or from both theelectronic component side and the board side, and the heating iseffected by the heating member at a time of metallic bonding.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

These and other aspects and features of the present invention willbecome clear from the following description taken in conjunction withthe preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C, FIG. 1D, FIG. 1E, FIG. 1F, and FIG. 1G areexplanatory views showing a method for mounting an electronic componentsuch as an IC chip on a circuit board according to a first embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are explanatory views showing a state in which aninorganic filler in a thermosetting resin is forced outwardly of a bumpdue to a pointed bump that enters the thermosetting resin at thebeginning of bonding by a method for mounting an electronic componentof, for example, an IC chip on a circuit board according to the firstembodiment, and FIG. 2C is an explanatory view of a state in which noinorganic filler enters a space between the bump and the boardelectrode;

FIG. 3A, FIG. 3B, FIG. 3C, FIG. 3D, FIG. 3E, FIG. 3F, and FIG. 3G areexplanatory views showing a bump forming process by means of a wirebonder for an IC chip by the mounting method of the first embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 4A, FIG. 4B and FIG. 4C are explanatory views showing a process forbonding an IC chip to a circuit board by the mounting method of thefirst embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B and FIG. 5C are explanatory views showing a process forbonding an IC chip to a circuit board by the mounting method of thefirst embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6A, FIG. 6B and FIG. 6C are explanatory views for explaining athermosetting adhesive arranged on a circuit board in place of ananisotropic conductive film sheet by a mounting method according to athird embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6D and FIG. 6E areenlarged explanatory views of the bonded state of the first embodiment;

FIG. 7A, FIG. 7B, FIG. 7C, FIG. 7D, FIG. 7E and FIG. 7F are explanatoryviews for explaining a thermosetting adhesive arranged on a circuitboard in place of an anisotropic conductive film sheet according to amodification example of FIG. 6A through FIG. 6E by the mounting methodof the third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8A, FIG. 8B and FIG. 8C are explanatory views showing a process forbonding an IC chip to a circuit board by a mounting method according toa fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9A, FIG. 9B and FIG. 9C are explanatory views showing a process forbonding an IC chip to a circuit board by the mounting method of thefifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10A, FIG. 10B, FIG. 10C and FIG. 10D are explanatory views showinga process for bonding an IC chip to a circuit board by a mounting methodaccording to a sixth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11A, FIG. 11B, FIG. 11C, FIG. 11D and FIG. 11E are explanatoryviews showing a process for bonding an IC chip to a circuit board by themounting method of the sixth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12A, FIG. 12B, FIG. 12C and FIG. 12D are explanatory views showinga process for bonding an IC chip to a circuit board by a mounting methodaccording to a seventh embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is an explanatory view showing a process for bonding an IC chipto a circuit board by the mounting method of the seventh embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 14A and FIG. 14B are an explanatory view showing a modificationexample of the first embodiment in which a thermosetting resin sheet isformed on an IC chip 1 side and an explanatory view showing amodification example of the first embodiment in which a thermosettingadhesive is formed on the IC chip 1 side;

FIG. 15 is a sectional view showing a conventional method for bonding anIC chip to a circuit board;

FIG. 16A and FIG. 16B are explanatory views showing a conventionalmethod for bonding an IC chip to a circuit board;

FIG. 17 is a graph of a relation between a resistance value and a loadin the case of a bump that has an outside diameter of 80 μm in the firstembodiment;

FIG. 18 is a graph showing a region of high reliability based on arelation between bumps that have outside diameters of 80 μm and 40 μmand a minimum load in the first embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a graph of a relation between a heating temperature and areaction rate of a resin sheet (anisotropic conductive film sheet) inthe third embodiment;

FIG. 20 is a perspective view of an electronic component mountingapparatus used in the first embodiment;

FIG. 21A, FIG. 21B, FIG. 21C and FIG. 21D are a perspective view showinga position recognizing operation on the component side of the electroniccomponent mounting apparatus of FIG. 20, a view of a positionrecognition image of the component, a perspective view showing aposition recognizing operation on the board side, and a view of aposition recognition image of the board, respectively;

FIG. 22 is a schematic view of a supersonic wave applying device used inthe fourth embodiment;

FIG. 23 is a schematic view of a sticking device used in the fifthembodiment;

FIG. 24A and FIG. 24B are enlarged sectional views in the vicinity of abump for explaining a comparison between an ACF processing method andthe processing method of the above embodiment;

FIG. 25 is a schematic sectional view of a bonded state produced by amethod and apparatus for mounting an electronic component of, forexample, an IC chip on a circuit board according to a ninth embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 26 is a partially enlarged schematic sectional view of a resinsheet employed by the method and apparatus for mounting the electroniccomponent of, for example, an IC chip on the circuit board of the ninthembodiment;

FIG. 27 is a schematic sectional view of an insulating resin and aninorganic filler in a bonded state achieved by a method and apparatusfor mounting an electronic component of, for example, an IC chip on acircuit board according to a thirteenth embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 28A, FIG. 28B, FIG. 28C and FIG. 28D are schematic sectional viewsof various examples of electronic component units of an anisotropicconductive layer employed by a method and apparatus for mounting anelectronic component of, for example, an IC chip on a circuit boardaccording to a fourteenth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 29A, FIG. 29B, FIG. 29C and FIG. 29D are schematic sectional viewsof various examples of an anisotropic conductive layer employed by amethod and apparatus for mounting an electronic component of, forexample, an IC chip on a circuit board according to modificationexamples of the fourteenth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 30 is a schematic sectional view of a bonded state achieved byusing the anisotropic conductive layer employed by the method andapparatus for mounting the electronic component of, for example, an ICchip on the circuit board of the fourteenth embodiment shown in FIG.29A;

FIG. 31 is a schematic sectional view of a bonded state achieved byusing the anisotropic conductive layer employed by the method andapparatus for mounting the electronic component of, for example, an ICchip on the circuit board of the fourteenth embodiment shown in FIG.29B;

FIG. 32A and FIG. 32B are schematic sectional views of a bonded stateachieved by using the anisotropic conductive layer employed by themethod and apparatus for mounting the electronic component of, forexample, an IC chip on the circuit board of the fourteenth embodimentshown in FIG. 29C and FIG. 29D;

FIG. 33A, FIG. 33B, FIG. 33C, FIG. 33D, FIG. 33E and FIG. 33F are graphsshowing various relations between the amount of the inorganic filler ofthe anisotropic conductive layer employed by the method and apparatusfor mounting the electronic component of, for example, an IC chip on thecircuit board of the fourteenth embodiment and the position in thedirection of thickness of the anisotropic conductive layer;

FIG. 34 is an explanatory view of a manufacturing process of theanisotropic conductive layer employed by a method and apparatus formounting an electronic component of, for example, an IC chip on acircuit board according to a fifteenth embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 35 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 34;

FIG. 36 is a graph of the distribution of the mean diameter of theconductive particles and the mean diameter of the particles of aninorganic filler in one concrete example of the first embodiment;

FIG. 37A and FIG. 37B are views showing examples of the bumps that canbe employed according to modification examples of the first embodiment;

FIG. 38A, FIG. 38B, FIG. 38C, FIG. 38D, FIG. 38E, FIG. 38F and FIG. 38Gare explanatory views showing a method and apparatus for mounting anelectronic component of, for example, an IC chip on a circuit boardaccording to a sixteenth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 39A and FIG. 39B are explanatory views showing a state in which aninorganic filler in a thermosetting resin is forced outwardly of a bumpdue to a pointed bump that enters the thermosetting resin at thebeginning of bonding by a method for mounting an electronic componentof, for example, an IC chip on a circuit board according to a sixteenthembodiment, and FIG. 39C is an explanatory view of a state in which noinorganic filler enters a space between the bump and the boardelectrode;

FIG. 40A, FIG. 40B, FIG. 40C, FIG. 40D, FIG. 40E, FIG. 40F and FIG. 40Gare explanatory views showing a bump forming process by means of a wirebonder for an IC chip by the mounting method of the sixteenth embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 41A, FIG. 41B and FIG. 41C are explanatory views showing a processfor bonding an IC chip to a circuit board by the mounting method of thesixteenth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 42A, FIG. 42B and FIG. 42C are explanatory views showing a processfor bonding an IC chip to a circuit board by the mounting method of thesixteenth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 43A, FIG. 43B and FIG. 43C are explanatory views for explaining athermosetting adhesive arranged on a circuit board in place of athermosetting resin sheet by a mounting method according to aneighteenth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 44A, FIG. 44B, FIG. 44C, FIG. 44D, FIG. 44E and FIG. 44F areexplanatory views for explaining a thermosetting adhesive arranged on acircuit board according to modification examples of FIG. 43A throughFIG. 43C in place of a thermosetting resin sheet by the mounting methodof the eighteenth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 45A, FIG. 45B and FIG. 45C are explanatory views showing a processfor bonding an IC chip to a circuit board by a mounting method accordingto a twentieth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 46A, FIG. 46B and FIG. 46C are explanatory views showing a processfor bonding an IC chip to a circuit board by the mounting method of thetwentieth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 47A, FIG. 47B, FIG. 47C and FIG. 47D are explanatory views showinga process for bonding an IC chip to a circuit board by a mounting methodaccording to a twenty-first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 48A, FIG. 48B, FIG. 48C, FIG. 48D and FIG. 48E are explanatoryviews showing a process for bonding an IC chip to a circuit board by themounting method of the twenty-first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 49A, FIG. 49B, FIG. 49C and FIG. 49D are explanatory views showinga process for bonding an IC chip to a circuit board by a mounting methodaccording to a twenty-second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 50 is an explanatory view showing a process for bonding an IC chipto a circuit board by the mounting method of the twenty-secondembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 51A and FIG. 51B are an explanatory view showing a modificationexample of the sixteenth embodiment in which a thermosetting resin sheetis formed on the IC chip 1 side and an explanatory view showing amodification example of the sixteenth embodiment in which athermosetting adhesive is formed on the IC chip 1 side;

FIG. 52 is a graph of a relation between a resistance value and a loadin the case of a bump that has an outside diameter of 80 μm in thesixteenth embodiment;

FIG. 53 is a graph showing a region of high reliability based on arelation between bumps that have outside diameters of 80 μm and 40 μmand a minimum load in the sixteenth embodiment;

FIG. 54 is a graph of a relation between a heating temperature and areaction rate of a resin sheet in the eighteenth embodiment;

FIG. 55 is a perspective view of an electronic component mountingapparatus used in the sixteenth embodiment;

FIG. 56A, FIG. 56B, FIG. 56C and FIG. 56D are a perspective view showinga position recognizing operation on the component side of the electroniccomponent mounting apparatus of FIG. 55, a view of a positionrecognition image of the component, a perspective view showing aposition recognizing operation on the board side, and a view of aposition recognition image of the board, respectively;

FIG. 57 is a schematic view of a supersonic wave applying device used inthe nineteenth embodiment;

FIG. 58 is a schematic view of a sticking device used in the twentiethembodiment;

FIG. 59A and FIG. 59B are enlarged sectional views in the vicinity of abump for explaining a comparison between an ACF processing method andthe processing method of the above embodiment;

FIG. 60 is a schematic sectional view of a bonded state achieved by amethod and apparatus for mounting an electronic component of, forexample, an IC chip on a circuit board according to a twenty-fourthembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 61 is a partially enlarged schematic sectional view of a resinsheet employed by the method and apparatus for mounting the electroniccomponent of, for example, an IC chip on the circuit board of thetwenty-fourth embodiment;

FIG. 62 is a schematic sectional view of an insulating resin and aninorganic filler in a bonded state achieved by a method and apparatusfor mounting an electronic component of, for example, an IC chip on acircuit board according to a twenty-eighth embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 63A, FIG. 63B, FIG. 63C and FIG. 63D are schematic sectional viewsof various examples of electronic component units of an insulating resinlayer employed by a method and apparatus for mounting an electroniccomponent of, for example, an IC chip on a circuit board according to atwenty-ninth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 64A, FIG. 64B, FIG. 64C and FIG. 64D are schematic sectional viewsof various examples of an insulating resin layer employed by a methodand apparatus for mounting an electronic component of, for example, anIC chip on a circuit board according to a modification example of thetwenty-ninth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 65 is a schematic sectional view of a bonded state achieved byusing the insulating resin layer employed by the method and apparatusfor mounting the electronic component of, for example, an IC chip on thecircuit board of the twenty-ninth embodiment shown in FIG. 64A;

FIG. 66 is a schematic sectional view of a bonded state achieved byusing the insulating resin layer employed by the method and apparatusfor mounting the electronic component of, for example, an IC chip on thecircuit board of the twenty-ninth embodiment shown in FIG. 64B;

FIG. 67A and FIG. 67B are schematic sectional views of a bonded stateachieved by using the insulating resin layer employed by the method andapparatus for mounting the electronic component of, for example, an ICchip on the circuit board of the twenty-ninth embodiment shown in FIG.64C and FIG. 64D;

FIG. 68A, FIG. 68B, FIG. 68C, FIG. 68D, FIG. 68E and FIG. 68F are graphsshowing various relations between the amount of the inorganic filler ofthe insulating resin layer employed by the method and apparatus formounting the electronic component of, for example, an IC chip on thecircuit board of the twenty-ninth embodiment and the position in thedirection of thickness of the insulating resin layer;

FIG. 69 is an explanatory view of a manufacturing process of theinsulating resin layer employed by a method and apparatus for mountingan electronic component of, for example, an IC chip on a circuit boardaccording to a thirtieth embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 70 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 69.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Before the description of the present invention proceeds, it is to benoted that like parts are designated by like reference numeralsthroughout the accompanying drawings.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail belowwith reference to the drawings.

First Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an IC chip onto a circuit board asan example of an electronic component mounting method and apparatus andan electronic component unit or module such as a semiconductor device inwhich the IC chip is mounted on the board by the mounting method,according to a first embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed below with reference to FIG. 1A through FIG. 14.

Reference is first made to the method for mounting an IC chip onto acircuit board according to the first embodiment of the present inventionwith reference to FIG. 1A through FIG. 4C and FIGS. 6A through 6F.

A bump (protruding-electrode) 3 is formed on an Al pad electrode 2 of anIC chip 1, that serves as one example of an electronic component, ofFIG. 1A by a wire bonding device through an operation shown in FIG. 3Athrough FIG. 3F. That is, a ball 96 is formed at a lower end of a wire95 protruding from a capillary 93 that serves as a holder in FIG. 3A,and the capillary 93 that is holding the wire 95 is lowered in FIG. 3Bso as to bond the ball 96 to the electrode 2 of the chip 1, roughlyforming a shape of the bump 3. By making the capillary 93 start to moveup while downwardly feeding the wire 95 in FIG. 3C, moving the capillary93 in an approximately rectangle-shaped loop 99 as shown in FIG. 3D toform a curved portion 98 on the bump 3 as shown in FIG. 3E, and tearingthe wire, the bump 3 as shown in FIG. 1B and FIG. 3F is formed.Otherwise, by clamping the wire 95 by the capillary 93 and pulling thecapillary 93 upwardly in FIG. 3B, the metal wire of, for example, gold(gold line) 95 (note that examples of the metal wire include those madeof zinc, aluminum, copper, or an alloy obtained by incorporating a traceelement into these metals, and the gold wire (gold line) willhereinafter be referred to as a representative example in the followingembodiments) may be torn so as to form a bump 3 of a shape as shown inFIG. 3G. A state in which the bump 3 is thus formed on each electrode 2of the chip 1 is shown in FIG. 1B.

Next, in the present embodiment, an anisotropic conductive film (ACF)sheet 10 is interposed, as one example of an anisotropic conductivelayer, between a circuit board 4 and the IC chip 1 when the IC chip withthe electrodes 2, on each of which the bump 3 is formed, is to bemounted onto the circuit board 4. This anisotropic conductive film sheet10 contains an inorganic filler 6 f, of a mean diameter smaller than amean diameter of conductive particles 10 a in the conductive film sheet,that has an insulative thermosetting property. For example, as shown inFIG. 36, assuming that the mean diameter of the conductive particles 10a is set to 0.5 μm smaller than a mean diameter of 1.0 μm of conductiveparticles 10 a of a conventional ACF, then the mean diameter of theparticles of the inorganic filler 6 f is set to about 3 to 5 μm. As theconductive particles 10 a contained in the anisotropic conductive filmsheet 10, nickel powder plated with gold is employed. With thisarrangement, a connection resistance between electrode 5, located on theboard 4, and the bump 3 located on the IC chip can be reduced, moresatisfactorily.

More preferably, by providing the conductive particles 10 a asconductive particles whose conductive particle bodies 10 a-1 areoutwardly coated with an insulating layer 10 a-2, and setting an amountof the conductive particles 10 a more than double that generallyemployed in an anisotropic conductive film, the conductive particles 10a are held by the bump 3 with a certain probability. This enables animprovement with regard to tolerance of a thermal impact due to swellingcaused by absorbed moisture and subsequent reflow.

If the conductive particle bodies 10 a-1 thus coated with insulationlayer 10 a-2 is placed between the bump 3 and the board electrode 5,then the insulation layer 10 a-2 is abraded away to expose theconductive particle bodies 10 a-1, which then perform their function ofconduction. Accordingly, the insulation layer 10 a-2 is not abraded awayat a location that is not placed between the bump 3 and the electrode 5,and therefore, performance of conduction of the conductive particlebodies 10 a-1 do not take effect here. Accordingly, a short circuitbetween the electrode 5 and the electrode 3 is difficult to occur in asurface direction. Moreover, when a stud bump is employed, it is usuallydifficult to place the conductive particles 10 a between the electrode 5and the bump 3 since its top portion has a small area. Therefore, it isrequired to incorporate a large amount of conductive particles 10 a.However, in doing so, the conductive particles sometimes come intocontact with each other, thereby possibly causing a short circuitbetween the electrodes 2 and 5. Therefore, it is preferable to employconductive particle bodies that are coated with an insulation layer.Moreover, a reason why a reflow characteristic and the like are improvedis because, when an anisotropic conductive film forming adhesive (oranisotropic conductive film sheet) swells in a Z-direction (a directionof thickness of the anisotropic conductive film sheet) caused byswelling due to factors of temperature and humidity, the conductiveparticles 10 a swell more than that, allowing a connection to bemaintained. Therefore, it is preferable to employ Au—Ni particle bodieshaving a repulsion power and coated with plastic, or the like, for theconductive particles 10 a.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1D, the anisotropic conductive film sheet 10,which is cut into a size slightly larger than a size of the chip 1 andincludes inorganic filler 6 f, is arranged on the electrodes 5 of thecircuit board 4 of FIG. 1C, and the anisotropic conductive film sheet 10is adhered to the board 4 with a pressure force of, for example, about 5to 10 kgf/cm² by virtue of a pressing tool 7 heated to, for example, 80to 120° C. Subsequently, by peeling off a separator 10 g, removablyarranged on the pressing tool side of the anisotropic conductive filmsheet 10, a preparation process of the board 4 is completed. Thisseparator 10 g is to prevent the anisotropic conductive film sheet 10,that contains a solid or semi-solid thermosetting resin mixed with theinorganic filler 6 f, from adhering to the pressing tool 7. In thiscase, as shown in FIG. 1G, which is an enlarged view of portion G ofFIG. 1F, the anisotropic conductive film sheet 10 is preferably providedby mixing an insulating resin 6 m with an inorganic filler 6 f ofceramics of spherical or pulverized silica, alumina or the like, havinga mean diameter smaller than a mean diameter of the conductive particles10 a in dispersion, flattening this mixture by a doctor blade method orthe like, and vaporizing a solvent component for solidification. Theconductive film sheet 10 preferably has a heat resistance sufficient fortolerating a high temperature in a subsequent reflow process (forexample, a heat resistance capable of tolerating a temperature of 240°C. for ten seconds). The insulating resin 6 m can be, for example, aninsulative thermosetting resin (for example, epoxy resin, phenol resin,and polyimide) or an insulative thermoplastic resin (for example,polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), polycarbonate, and modified polyphenyleneoxide (PPO)), a mixture of an insulative thermosetting resin with aninsulative thermoplastic resin, or the like. In this case, descriptionwill be continued with the insulative thermosetting resin taken as arepresentative example. This insulative thermosetting resin 6 mgenerally has a glass transition point of about 120 to 200° C. When onlya thermoplastic resin is employed, the resin is once initially softenedby heating and then hardened by being naturally cooled with the heatingstopped. When a mixture of an insulative thermosetting resin with aninsulative thermoplastic resin is employed, this resin mixture ishardened by being heated similarly to a case of only using athermosetting resin because the thermosetting resin functionspredominantly.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1E and FIG. 1F, in an electronic componentmounting apparatus 600 shown in FIG. 20, the chip 1 on which the bumps 3are formed through the aforementioned process is sucked, and held, froma tray 602 by a heated bonding tool 8 located at a tip of a componentholding member 601, and the IC chip 1 is pressed against the board 4 viaan anisotropic conductive film sheet 10 while being aligned in positionwith the electrodes 5 of the board 4 corresponding to the electrodes 2of the IC chip 1, with the board 4 having been prepared through theaforementioned preceding process and mounted on a stage 9. Thispositional alignment is performed by a well-known position recognizingoperation. For example, as shown in FIG. 21C, a positional recognitionmark(s) 605 or a lead(s) or a land pattern(s) formed on the board 4 isrecognized by a board recognizing camera 604 of the electronic componentmounting apparatus 600. As shown in FIG. 21D, a position of the board 4is recognized by recognizing an XY coordinate position of the board inorthogonal XY directions on the stage 9 and rotational position of theboard relative to an origin of an XY coordinate system on a basis of animage 606 obtained by the camera 604. On the other hand, a mark(s) 608or a circuit pattern for recognizing a position of the IC chip 1, suckedand held by the bonding tool 8, is recognized by an IC chip positionrecognizing camera 603 as shown in FIG. 21A, and the position of the ICchip 1 is recognized by recognizing an XY coordinate position of the ICchip in the orthogonal XY directions and a rotational position of thechip relative to the origin of the XY coordinate system on a basis of animage 607 obtained by the camera 603 as shown in FIG. 21B. Then, thebonding tool 8 or the stage 9 is moved, on a basis of positionrecognition results of the board 4 and the IC chip 1, to performpositional alignment so that the electrodes 2 of the IC chip 1 arepositioned on the corresponding electrodes 5 of the board 4, andthereafter, the IC chip 1 is pressed against the board 4 by heatedbonding tool 8. At this time, the bump 3 is pressed against theelectrode 5 of the board 4 in a manner that a head portion 3 a of thebump 3 is deformed as shown in FIG. 4B and FIG. 4C. At this time, asshown in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, the inorganic filler 6 f in thethermosetting resin 6 m is forced outwardly of the bump 3 because of thebump 3 entering the thermosetting resin 6 m at a beginning of bonding.Moreover, as shown in FIG. 2C, there is produced an effect of reducing aconnection resistance value by an arrangement in that the inorganicfiller 6 f does not enter a space between the bump 3 and the boardelectrode 5 due to this outward forcing action. At this time, even if acertain amount of inorganic filler 6 f enters the space between the bump3 and the board electrode 5, there is no problem of the bump 3 not beingbrought into direct contact with the board electrode 5. At this time, aload is applied, which differs depending on an outside diameter of thebump 3, so that a folded portion of the head 3 a may be deformed withoutfail as shown in FIG. 4C. At this time, when the conductive particles 10a in the anisotropic conductive film sheet 10 are resin balls platedwith a metal as shown in FIG. 6E, the conductive particles 10 a arerequired to be deformed. When the conductive particles 10 a in theanisotropic conductive film sheet 10 are metal particles of nickel orthe like, it is required to apply a load to an extent that the particlesget stuck in the bump 3 and the electrode 5 located on the board 4 asshown in FIG. 6D. This load is required to be at least 20 gf per bump.That is, a resistance value becomes excessively increased to aresistance value of at least 100 mmΩ/bump when the load is smaller than20 gf per bump, according to a graph showing a relationship between theresistance value and the load in a case of a bump having an outsidediameter of 80 μm as shown in FIG. 17, thus resulting in practicalproblems, and therefore, a load of not smaller than 20 gf per bump ispreferable. FIG. 18 is a graph showing a region of high reliabilitybased on a relationship between bumps having outside diameters of 80 μmand 40 μm and a minimum load. According to this graph, it is presumedthat a bump having an outside diameter of not smaller than 40 μm ispreferably loaded with a minimum load of not smaller than 25 gf perbump, and reliability is high when the minimum load is not smaller thanabout 20 gf per bump in a case of a bump having an outside diametersmaller than 40 μm. It is also presumed that, in the future when a bumpoutside diameter is reduced to 40 μm or less with a reduction in leadpitch, a load tends to reduce in proportion to the second power of aprojected area of the bump depending on the projected area of the bump.Therefore, the minimum load applied via the IC chip 1 is preferably atleast 20 gf per bump. An upper limit of the load applied via the IC chip1 is set to an extent that none of the IC chip 1, the bump 3, thecircuit board 4, and so on is damaged. According to circumstances, amaximum load may sometimes exceed 100 gf per bump or 150 gf per bump. Atthis time, if an inorganic filler 6 f whose mean diameter is smallerthan the mean diameter of the conductive particles is employed, therecan be produced an effect of increasing an elastic modulus of thethermosetting resin 6 m and reducing a coefficient of thermal expansionthereof.

It is to be noted that reference numeral 10 s in the figure denotes aresin resulting from the thermosetting insulating resin 6 m that hasbeen melted by heat of the bonding tool 8 and thereafter thermallyhardened into the anisotropic conductive film sheet 10.

It is also acceptable to perform the process of aligning in position theelectrodes 2, on which the bumps 3 have been formed through theaforementioned preceding process, with the electrodes 5 of the board 4as shown in FIG. 1E, with the board 4 being prepared by the precedingprocess, and the process of performing pressure bonding as shown in FIG.1F after positional alignment by use of one positional alignment andpressure bonding apparatus, for example, the position aligning andpressure bonding apparatus of FIG. 1E. However, it is also acceptable toperform the positional alignment process and the pressure bondingprocess by separate units, for example, a positional alignment device ofFIG. 5B and a bonding device of FIG. 5C, respectively, in order toimprove productivity by concurrently performing positional alignmentwork and pressure bonding work when continuously manufacturing, forexample, many boards. FIG. 5C shows two bonding devices 8 provided for apurpose of improving productivity, by which two portions of one circuitboard 4 can be concurrently subjected to pressure bonding.

In each of the aforementioned and undermentioned embodiments, thecircuit board 4 is a multilayer ceramic board, a glass fabric laminateepoxy board (glass epoxy board), an aramid unwoven fabric board, a glassfabric laminate polyimide resin board, an FPC (flexible printedcircuit), or an aramid unwoven fabric epoxy board (for example, a resinmultilayer board sold with a registered trademark of “ALIVH” andproduced by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.), or the like.

These boards 4 are not always planar since warps and undulations aregenerated due to thermal history, cutting, and processing. Accordingly,as shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, by locally applying heat and load tocircuit board 4 via IC chip 1 from a bonding tool side toward stage 9side by virtue of bonding tool 8 and stage 9, each of which has itsparallelism controlled to, for example, about at most 10 μm or less,warpage of the circuit board 4 at an applied portion is corrected.

IC chip 1 can be warped so as to be concave about a center of an activesurface. By pressurizing such IC chip with a heavy load of not smallerthan 20 gf per bump at a time of bonding, warps and undulations of boththe board 4 and the IC chip 1 can be corrected. Warpage of the IC chip 1is generated by an internal stress caused when a thin film is formed onSi while forming the IC chip 1. Quantity of deformation of each bump 3is about 10 to 25 μm, which becomes tolerated by each bump, which adaptsitself with deformation of the bump to an influence of an undulationthat appears on a surface of an inner layer copper foil originally on aboard of this grade.

Thus, heat of, for example, 140 to 230° C. is applied to the anisotropicconductive film sheet 10 located between the IC chip 1 and the circuitboard 4 for, for example, about several seconds to 20 seconds in a statein which warpage of the circuit board 4 is corrected, and thisanisotropic conductive film sheet 10 is hardened. At this time, thethermosetting resin 6 m, which constitutes part of the anisotropicconductive film sheet 10, flows first and encapsulates the IC chip 1 upto an edge of the IC chip 1. Moreover, the resin, which is naturallyinitially softened when heated, generates fluidity of a flow to the edgeas described above. By making a volume of the thermosetting resin 6 mgreater than a volume of a space between the IC chip 1 and the circuitboard 4, the resin flows and leaks out of this space, allowing anencapsulation effect to be produced. Subsequently, the heated bondingtool 8 is moved up, by which a heating source disappears to rapidlyreduce temperatures of the IC chip 1 and the anisotropic conductive filmsheet 10. The anisotropic conductive film sheet 10 looses its fluidity,and as shown in FIG. 1F and FIG. 4C, the IC chip 1 is fixed onto thecircuit board 4 with the resin 10 s that is the anisotropic conductivefilm sheet 10 after being softened and then hardened. Moreover, if thecircuit board 4 is heated by a heater 9 a of the stage 9 or the like, atemperature of the bonding tool 8 can further be reduced.

With this arrangement, a thermosetting resin mixed with an inorganicfiller of a mean particle diameter smaller than the mean diameter of theconductive particles 10 a can be used for the anisotropic conductivefilm sheet 10. Furthermore, by using nickel powder plated with gold asthe conductive particles 10 a contained in the anisotropic conductivefilm sheet 10, a connection resistance value can be reduced, morepreferably.

According to the first embodiment, by mixing the inorganic filler 6 f,that has a mean particle diameter smaller than the mean diameter of theconductive particles 10 a, with the thermosetting resin 6 m, reliabilitycan further be improved without hindering operation of the conductiveparticles 10 a. That is, the conductive particles 10 a are placedbetween the bump 3 and the electrode 5 of the board 4. At this time,even if the inorganic filler 6 f is concurrently placed between the bumpand electrode, conductivity is not hindered since the mean particlediameter of the inorganic filler 6 f is smaller than the mean diameterof the conductive particles 10 a. Furthermore, the elastic modulus ofthe thermosetting resin 6 m is increased and the coefficient of thermalexpansion thereof is reduced, thereby improving reliability of bondingof the IC chip 1 to the board 4.

Second Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component, forexample, an IC chip onto a circuit board, and an electronic componentunit or module, for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chipis mounted onto the board by the mounting method, according to a secondembodiment of the present invention will be described next.

This second embodiment is made more preferable than the first embodimentby setting a ratio of the inorganic filler 6 f, in the anisotropicconductive film sheet 10 that contains an insulating thermosettingresin, to the insulative thermosetting resin to 5 to 90 wt % of theinsulative thermosetting resin. When the ratio is lower than 5 wt %, thepresence of the inorganic filler 6 f is meaningless. When the ratioexceeds 90 wt %, adhesive strength is extremely reduced, and it isdifficult to form a sheet, leading to a disadvantage. As an example,from a point of view of maintaining high reliability, it is preferableto set the ratio to 20 to 40 wt % in a case of a resin board, and to 40to 70 wt % in a case of a ceramic board. In a case of a glass epoxyboard, a coefficient of linear expansion of a sheet encapsulant can beconsiderably reduced at a ratio of about 20 wt %, thereby producing aneffect on the glass epoxy board. The ratio is set to about half apercentage by weight in terms of volume percentage, or in proportions of1 part epoxy resin to about 2 parts silica in terms of specific gravity.In a normal case, the ratio of this inorganic filler to the insulatingthermosetting resin is determined by manufacturing conditions in formingthe thermosetting resin into a sheet, by an elastic modulus of board 4,and finally by a result of a reliability test.

By providing the inorganic filler 6 f at the aforementioned ratio to thethermosetting resin, the elastic modulus of the thermosetting resin 6 mof the anisotropic conductive film sheet 10 can be increased, andreliability of bonding of IC chip 1 to the board 4 can be improved byreducing the coefficient of thermal expansion. Moreover, the ratio ofthe inorganic filler 6 f to the thermosetting resin can be determined sothat a material constant of the thermosetting resin 6 m, i.e., anelastic modulus and a coefficient of linear expansion are optimizedaccording to material of the board 4. It is to be noted that thecoefficient of linear expansion tends to be reduced although the elasticmodulus is increased as the ratio of the inorganic filler 6 f to thethermosetting resin 6 m is increased.

The first embodiment and the second embodiment have advantages in thatthe anisotropic conductive film sheet 10, which is not liquid but solid,is easy to handle and is able to be formed of polymer since no liquidcomponent exists, thereby allowing an anisotropic conductive film sheethaving a high glass transition point to be easily formed.

With reference to FIG. 1A through FIG. 1G, FIG. 2A through FIG. 2C, FIG.6A through FIG. 6E, and FIG. 7A through FIG. 7F described later,formation of anisotropic conductive film sheet 10 that containsthermosetting resin as one example of the anisotropic conductive layer,or the anisotropic conductive film forming thermosetting adhesive 6 b onthe circuit board 4, has been described. However, without being limitedto this, the sheet or adhesive may be formed on the IC chip 1 andthereafter bonded to the board 4 as shown in FIG. 14A or FIG. 14B. Inthe case of, in particular, an anisotropic conductive film sheet 10 thatcontains thermosetting resin, it is acceptable to adhere the anisotropicconductive film sheet 10 to the IC chip 1 along a configuration of bumps3 by pressing the IC chip 1 held by a holding member 200, such as asuction nozzle, against an elastic body 117, such as rubber on a stage201, together with a separator 6 a removably arranged on the circuitboard side of the anisotropic conductive film sheet 10.

Third Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component, forexample, an IC chip onto a circuit board, and an electronic componentunit or module, for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chipis mounted onto the board by the mounting method, according to a thirdembodiment of the present invention will be described next withreference to FIG. 6A through FIG. 6C and FIG. 7A through FIG. 7F.

According to this third embodiment, instead of adhering the anisotropicconductive film sheet 10 that contains a thermosetting resin onto board4 as in the first embodiment, an anisotropic conductive film formingthermosetting adhesive 6 b that has a liquid form, and serves as oneexample of the anisotropic conductive layer, is applied, printed ortransferred onto the circuit board 4 by a dispenser 502 or the like asshown in FIG. 6A and FIGS. 7A and 7D, and thereafter solidified into asemi-solid state, or a state of a so-called B stage. Subsequently, ICchip 1 is mounted onto the board 4 similarly to the first or secondembodiment.

In detail, as shown in FIG. 6A, the anisotropic conductive film formingthermosetting adhesive 6 b in liquid form is applied, printed ortransferred onto the circuit board 4 by the dispenser 502 or the like,which can be moved in two directions that are orthogonal to a boardsurface, and a discharge rate of the thermosetting adhesive iscontrolled with air pressure as shown in FIG. 7A. Next, the adhesive issolidified into a semi-solid state, or the state of the so-called Bstage as shown in FIG. 6C, by applying heat and pressure via a tool 78that has a built-in heater 78 a as shown in FIG. 6B.

Otherwise, in a case where the anisotropic conductive film formingthermosetting adhesive 6 b in liquid form has a low viscosity, theliquid thermosetting adhesive 6 b is applied to a specified position onboard 4 by use of the dispenser 502 as shown in FIG. 7A, and thereafter,the thermosetting adhesive 6 b naturally spreads on the board, since itsviscosity is low, and enters into a state as shown in FIG. 7B.Subsequently, by putting the board 4 into a furnace 503 by use of aconveying unit 505, as shown in FIG. 7C, and hardening the liquidthermosetting adhesive 6 b via a heater 504 of the furnace 503, theadhesive is solidified into a semi-solid state, i.e., the state of theso-called B stage.

In a case where the anisotropic conductive film forming thermosettingadhesive 6 b in liquid form has a high viscosity, the liquidthermosetting adhesive 6 b is applied to a specified position on board 4by use of the dispenser 502 as shown in FIG. 7D, and thereafter, thethermosetting adhesive 6 b is spread flat by a squeegee 506 as shown inFIGS. 7E and 7F, since the adhesive does not naturally spread on theboard due to the high viscosity of the thermosetting adhesive 6 b.Subsequently, by putting the board 4 into the furnace 503 by use of theconveying unit 505, as shown in FIG. 7C, and hardening the liquidthermosetting adhesive 6 b via the heater 504 of the furnace 503, theadhesive is solidified into a semi-solid state, i.e., the state of theso-called B stage.

As described above, although there is a difference depending oncharacteristics of the thermosetting resin in the thermosetting adhesive6 b when the anisotropic conductive film forming thermosetting adhesive6 b is semi-solidified, pressurization is effected at a temperature of80 to 130° C., which is 30 to 80% of a glass transition point of thethermosetting resin. The pressurization is normally performed at atemperature of about 30% of the glass transition point of thethermosetting resin. A reason why the temperature is 30 to 80% of theglass transition point of the thermosetting resin is that a furtherrange for reaction can remain for subsequent processes within the rangeof 80 to 130° C., according to a graph of heating temperature of theanisotropic conductive film sheet with respect to its reaction rate, asshown in FIG. 19. In other words, reaction rate of the insulating resin,or for example, epoxy resin can be restrained to about 10 to 50%, alsodepending on time, within the temperature range of 80 to 130° C., andtherefore, no problem occurs at a time of IC chip pressure bonding insubsequent processes. That is, a prescribed quantity of pressure can besecured at the time of pressure-bonding the IC chip, and this rarelyincurs a problem in that press-cutting cannot be performed. It is alsopossible to perform semi-solidification by vaporizing only a solventcomponent while restraining a reaction.

When a plurality of IC chips 1 are mounted on board 4 after thethermosetting adhesive 6 b is semi-solidified as described above,productivity is further improved by preliminarily performing thesemi-solidifying process of the thermosetting adhesive 6 b as apre-arranging process at a plurality of portions which belong to theboard 4 and to which the plurality of IC chips 1 are mounted, supplyingthe thus pre-arranged board 4, and bonding the plurality of IC chips 1to the plurality of portions of the board 4. In subsequent processes,even when the thermosetting adhesive 6 b is used, a process basicallyidentical to the process employing the anisotropic conductive film sheet10 of the aforementioned first or second embodiment is performed. Byadding the semi-solidifying process, the liquid anisotropic conductivefilm forming thermosetting adhesive 6 b can be employed similarly to theanisotropic conductive film sheet 10, and this arrangement has anadvantage in that handling is easy because of solidness and an advantagein that an adhesive having a high glass transition point can be formedsince the adhesive can be formed of polymer because of non-existence ofa liquid component. When the anisotropic conductive film formingthermosetting adhesive 6 b having fluidity is employed as describedabove, there is a co-existent advantage in that the adhesive can beapplied, printed or transferred in an arbitrary size to arbitrarypositions of the board 4 as opposed to a case where a solid anisotropicconductive film sheet 10 is employed.

Fourth Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component, forexample, an IC chip onto a circuit board, and an electronic componentunit or module of, for example, a semiconductor device in which the ICchip is mounted on the board by the mounting method, according to afourth embodiment of the present invention will be described next withreference to FIG. 22. The fourth embodiment differs from the firstembodiment in that a bump tip is shaped so as to prevent short circuitwith adjacent bumps or electrodes due to collapse of a neck (whisker)portion at a tip of the bump 3, caused by tearing at a time of bumpformation, by pressurizing the bump 3 with a load of not greater than 20gf without leveling the bump 3 with supersonic waves applied in additionto the load when IC chip 1 is bonded to board 4. The IC chip 1 isthereafter mounted onto the board 4 while aligning in position the ICchip 1 with the board 4, and metal bumps 3 are subjected tothermocompression-bonding with supersonic waves to metals of theelectrode surface on the board. A state in which the IC chip 1 is bondedto the board 4 is similar to those of FIG. 2 and FIG. 6 of theaforementioned embodiments.

When metallically bonding gold bumps to electrodes of the board withsupersonic waves applied, it is acceptable to apply heat from an uppersurface side of the IC chip 1 or from the board side, or from both theIC chip 1 side and the board side.

According to this fourth embodiment, solid anisotropic conductive filmsheet 10 or a liquid anisotropic conductive film forming thermosettingadhesive 6 b semi-solidified as described above, obtained by mixinginsulating thermosetting resin 6 m with inorganic filler 6 f, is adheredto the board 4, or the anisotropic conductive film forming thermosettingadhesive 6 b that contains the thermosetting resin is applied to theboard 4 and semi-solidified. Thereafter, ball 96 is formed by applyingan electric spark to a tip of gold wire 95 through the operation asshown in FIG. 3A through FIG. 3F, similar to wire bonding of electrodes5 of the board 4 and electrodes 2 of the IC chip 1, and the IC chip 1 ismounted onto the board 4 by aligning in position the bumps 3, each ofwhich is formed by thermocompression-bonding this ball 96 to a boardelectrode 5 with supersonic waves by virtue of capillary 93, withoutleveling the bumps 3. In this case, the aforementioned “liquidanisotropic conductive film forming thermosetting adhesive 6 bsemi-solidified as described above” is an object obtained bysemi-solidifying the liquid anisotropic conductive film formingthermosetting adhesive 6 b as described in connection with the thirdembodiment, approximately similar to an object put in the B stage. Atthis time, in a supersonic wave applying device 620 as shown in FIG. 22,gold bumps 3 are metallically bonded to gold plating located on board 4while shaping tips of the bump so as to prevent collapse of neckportions at tips of the gold bumps 3 by effecting a load of an aircylinder 625 applied from an upper surface of the IC chip 1, sucked andheld by a pre-heated bonding tool 628 with a built-in heater 622, andsupersonic waves that are generated by a supersonic wave generatingelement 623 such as a piezoelectric element and applied via a supersonicwave horn 624. Next, the IC chip 1 is pressed against the circuit board4 with a pressure force of not smaller than 20 gf per bump while heatingthe IC chip 1 from the upper surface side of the IC chip 1 and/or fromthe board side so as to correct warpage of the board 4 and crush thebumps 3, and the anisotropic conductive film sheet 10 or thethermosetting adhesive 6 b interposed between the IC chip 1 and thecircuit board 4 is hardened by heat so as to bond the IC chip 1 to thecircuit board 4, electrically connecting together both the electrodes 2and 5. It is also acceptable to apply heat from the upper surface sideof the IC chip 1 or from the board side or from both the IC chip 1 sideand the board side at the time of the metallic bonding performed by thesupersonic wave applying device 620. That is, in concrete, it isacceptable to apply heat to the IC chip 1 from the upper surface side bythe built-in heater 622 or apply heat to the circuit board 4 from theboard side by heater 9 a of stage 9, or apply heat from both the IC chip1 side and the board side by the built-in heater 622 and the heater 9 aof stage 9.

A reason why a pressure force of not smaller than 20 gf per bump isneeded is that bonding cannot be achieved since frictional heat rarelyoccurs even by bonding using supersonic waves as described above. Also,when bonding gold to gold, frictional heat is generated by pressing thebump with a specified constant load and applying supersonic waves to aportion of the bump, by which the metals are bonded together. Therefore,even in this case, a specified load sufficient for pressurizing thebump, i.e., a pressure force of not smaller than 20 gf per bump isneeded. For example, the pressure force is set to 50 gf or more perbump.

According to the fourth embodiment, the metal bumps 3 and the metalplating of the board 4 are subjected to metallic diffusion bonding, andthis arrangement is therefore appropriate for giving a strength to eachbump portion, or further reducing a connection resistance value.

Fifth Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component, forexample, an IC chip onto a circuit board, and an electronic componentunit or module, for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chipis mounted onto the board by the mounting method, according to a fifthembodiment of the present invention will be described next withreference to FIG. 8A through FIG. 8C and FIG. 9A through FIG. 9C. Thefifth embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that anencapsulation process can be eliminated.

As described above, protruding electrodes (bumps) 3 are preparatorilyformed on electrodes 2 of IC chip 1. On circuit board 4, as shown inFIG. 8B, FIG. 8C, FIG. 9A and FIG. 23, a rectangular sheet-shapedanisotropic conductive film sheet 10, or a thermosetting adhesive 6 b,that has a configurational dimension smaller than an approximatelyrectangular-shaped outline dimension OL, defined by joining inner edgesof the electrodes 2 of the IC chip 1, is preparatorily adhered orapplied to a central portion of a region defined by joining electrodes 5of the circuit board 4. At this time, a thickness of the sheet-shapedanisotropic conductive film sheet 10 or the thermosetting adhesive 6 bis set so that its volume becomes slightly greater than a gap betweenthe IC chip 1 and the board 4. By use of the pressing device 640 of FIG.23, a rectangular sheet-shaped anisotropic conductive film sheet 656that is unwound from an un-winding roll 644 and wound around a windingroll 643 is cut along a portion, preliminarily provided with a notch 657by upper and lower cutter blades 641, into a configurational dimensionsmaller than the approximately rectangular-shaped outline dimension OLdefined by joining the inner edges of the plurality of electrodes 2 ofthe IC chip 1. The anisotropic conductive film sheet 10 having thisrectangular sheet-like shape is sucked and held by a sticking head 642,which is pre-heated by a built-in heater 646, and adhered the centralportion of the region defined by joining the electrodes 5 of the circuitboard 4. Next, the bumps 3 and the electrodes 5 of the circuit board 4are aligned in position and, as shown in FIG. 8A and FIG. 9B, the ICchip 1 is pressed against the circuit board 4 by bonding tool 8 which isheated by the heater 8 a, so as to concurrently perform correction ofwarp of the board 4 and harden the anisotropic conductive film sheet 10or the thermosetting adhesive 6 b interposed between the IC chip 1 andthe circuit board 4. At this time, the anisotropic conductive film sheet10 or the thermosetting adhesive 6 b is softened as describedhereinabove, by heat applied from the bonding tool 8 via the IC chip 1,and flows outwardly by being pressurized from a position to which it hasbeen adhered or applied, as shown in FIG. 9C. This outflow anisotropicconductive film sheet 10 or thermosetting adhesive 6 b becomes anencapsulation material (underfill), which remarkably improvesreliability of bonding of the bumps 3 to the electrodes 5. After a lapseof a specified time, hardening of the anisotropic conductive film sheet10 or the thermosetting adhesive 6 b gradually progresses, and hardenedresin 6 s finally bonds the IC chip 1 to the circuit board 4. By movingupwardly the bonding tool 8, that is pressurizing the IC chip 1, bondingof the IC chip 1 to the electrodes 5 of the circuit board 4 iscompleted. Strictly speaking, in a case of thermosetting resin, reactionof the thermosetting resin progresses during heating, and fluidityalmost disappears with a moving-up motion of the bonding tool 8.According to the above-mentioned method, neither the anisotropicconductive film sheet 10 nor the thermosetting adhesive 6 b covers theelectrodes 5 before bonding, and therefore, the bumps 3 are brought intodirect contact with the electrodes 5 at a time of bonding. Then, neitherthe anisotropic conductive film sheet 10 nor the thermosetting adhesive6 b enters spaces under the electrodes 5, and a value of connectionresistance between each bump 3 and its corresponding electrode 5 can bereduced. If the circuit board is heated, then a temperature of thebonding head 8 can be reduced. If this method is applied to the thirdembodiment, bonding of gold bumps to gold electrodes (for example,copper or tungsten plated with nickel or gold) of the circuit board caneasily be achieved.

Sixth Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component, forexample, an IC chip on a circuit board, and an electronic component unitor module, for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chip ismounted onto the board by the mounting method, according to a sixthembodiment of the present invention will be described next withreference to FIG. 10A through FIG. 10D and FIG. 11A through FIG. 11E.The sixth embodiment differs from the first embodiment in thathigh-reliability bonding can be achieved even if a bump 103 is mountedon electrode 5 of circuit board 4 while being shifted.

According to the sixth embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10A, a gold ball isformed from a gold wire 95 by subjecting the wire to an electric spark.Next, a ball 96 a of a diameter Φd-Bump denoted by 95 a is formed whileadjusting a size of the ball by duration of application of the electricspark, and the thus-formed ball 96 a having diameter Φd-Bump is formedby controlling a parameter of time or voltage for generating theelectric spark so that a chamfer diameter φD denoted by 93 a of acapillary 193, whose chamfer angle θc is not greater than 100°, becomesone-half to three-fourths the gold ball diameter Φd-Bump. Instead offorming a bump 3 as shown in FIG. 10D via provision of a flat portion 93b in a portion of the capillary that is to be brought into contact withthe gold ball as shown in FIG. 10C, a bump 103 as shown in FIG. 10B isformed on electrode 2 of IC chip 1 by performing supersonic wavethermocompression-bonding via capillary 193 whose tip portion 193 a isprovided with a non-flat shape, which tip portion is to be brought intocontact with the gold ball 96 a as shown in FIG. 10A. By using capillary193 having the above-mentioned shape, an approximately conically tippedbump 103 as shown in FIG. 10B can be formed on the electrode 2 of the ICchip 1. Even when the approximately conically tipped bump 103 formed bythe above-mentioned method is mounted on electrode 5 of circuit board 4while being shifted as shown in FIG. 11C, the bump 103 can be partiallybrought into contact with the electrode 5 of the board 4 without failsince the bump 103 has the approximately conically shaped tip, so longas the bump is not shifted more than half an outside diameter of thebump 103.

In contrast to this, in a case of a bump 3 as shown in FIG. 11D, whenthe bump 3 is mounted on electrode 5 of circuit board 4 while beingshifted by a dimension Z as shown in FIG. 11C, a so-called base 3 g of awidth dimension d partially comes into contact with the electrode 5 asshown in FIG. 11E. However, this contact is mere partial contact,leading to bonding in an unstable contact state. If the board 4exhibiting this unstable bonding state is subjected to a thermal shocktest or reflow, then a bond may become broken and defective. In contrastto this, according to the sixth embodiment, even when the approximatelyconically tipped bump 103 is mounted on the electrode 5 of the circuitboard 4 while being shifted by the dimension Z as shown in FIG. 11C, thebump 103 can partially come into contact with the electrode 5 of theboard 4 without fail so long as dimension Z is not greater than half anoutside diameter of the bump 103, since the bump 103 has the conical tipshape, and this can prevent a possible occurrence of defective bondingeven when the board is subjected to a thermal shock test or reflow.

Seventh Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component, forexample, an IC chip onto a circuit board, and an electronic componentunit or module, for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chipis mounted on the board by the mounting method, according to a seventhembodiment of the present invention will be described next withreference to FIG. 12A through 12D and FIG. 13. According to this seventhembodiment, stress of the IC chip 1 and the circuit board 4 in the firstembodiment can be alleviated when the thermosetting resin is hardenedafter bonding of the IC chip 1 to the circuit board 4.

In the seventh embodiment, the bump 3 formed on the electrode 2 of theIC chip 1 is aligned in position with the electrode 5 of the circuitboard 4, without leveling the bump, with interposition of a solid orsemi-solid anisotropic conductive film sheet 10 or a thermosettingadhesive 6 b obtained by mixing an insulating resin 6 m with aninorganic filler 6 f. The IC chip 1 is pressed against the circuit board4 with a pressure force P1 of not smaller than 80 gf per bump in a caseof a ceramic board while heating the IC chip 1 from its rear surfaceside by tool 8 heated to a specified temperature of, for example, about230° C. to correct warp of the board 4, and the anisotropic conductivefilm sheet 10 or the thermosetting adhesive 6 b interposed between theIC chip 1 and the circuit board 4 is hardened by heat. Next, assumingthat a total pressing time is, for example, 20 seconds, then, after alapse of a specified time t1, i.e., after a lapse of five to ten seconds(one-fourth to one-half the total pressing time), also depending on areaction rate of material, or in other words, before the reaction rateof the material reaches 90%, the pressure force applied by the tool isreduced to a pressure P2, which is lower than pressure P1, to alleviatestress when the thermosetting adhesive 6 b is hardened, and the IC chip1 and the circuit board 4 are bonded together to electricallyinterconnect both electrodes 2 and 5. Preferably, by setting pressure P1to 20 gf or more per bump for a reason that a minimum of about 20 gf isrequired for deformation of the bump, i.e., in order to obtain apressure required for deformation and adaptation of the bump and forceout excessive resin from between the IC chip 1 and the board 4, andsetting pressure P2 to less than 20 gf per bump in order to removehardening distortion unevenly distributed inside the resin beforedeformation of the bump, reliability is improved. Detailed reasons areas follows. A stress distribution of thermosetting resin in theanisotropic conductive film sheet 10 or the thermosetting adhesive 6 bis increased on the IC chip 1 side and the board 4 side at a time ofpressure bonding as shown in FIG. 12C.

In this maintained state, if fatigue is repetitively given through areliability test and normal long-term use, then the thermosetting resinin the anisotropic conductive film sheet 10 or the thermosettingadhesive 6 b is sometimes unable to endure stress and may separate fromthe IC chip 1 or the board 4. If the above state occurs, then adhesivestrength of the IC chip 1 and the circuit board 4 becomes insufficientand a bonded portion becomes open. Accordingly, by adopting a two-steppressure profile of higher pressure P1 and lower pressure P2 as shown inFIG. 13, pressure can be reduced to pressure P2, lower than pressure P1,when the thermosetting adhesive 6 b is hardened, and stress of the ICchip 1 and the circuit board 4, can be alleviated (in other words, adegree of stress concentration can be reduced), as shown in FIG. 12D, byremoving a hardening distortion unevenly distributed inside the resinwith pressure P2. Subsequently, by increasing pressure to pressure P1, apressure required for deformation and adaptation of a bump can beobtained, and a excessive resin can be forced out of a space between theIC chip 1 and the board 4, thereby improving reliability.

It is to be noted that the aforementioned “adhesive strength of the ICchip 1 and the circuit board 4” means a force to make the IC chip 1 andthe board 4 adhere to each other. In this regard, the IC chip 1 and theboard 4 are bonded together by three forces: (1) an adhesive strengthprovided by the adhesive; (2) a hardening shrinkage force when theadhesive is hardened; and (3) a shrinkage force (for example, ashrinkage force generated when the adhesive heated to a temperature of,for example, 180° C. shrinks when returning to normal temperature) in aZ-direction.

Eighth Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component, forexample, an IC chip onto a circuit board, and an electronic componentunit or module, for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chipis mounted on the board by the mounting method, according to an eighthembodiment of the present invention will be described next withreference to FIG. 24A and FIG. 24B. According to this eighth embodiment,the inorganic filler 6 f mixed with the insulating resin 6 m in each ofthe aforementioned embodiments has a mean particle diameter of notsmaller than 3 μm. It is to be noted that a maximum mean particlediameter of the inorganic filler 6 f is assumed to have a dimension thatdoes not exceed a gap dimension between IC chip 1 and board 4 afterbonding.

If fine particles having a mean particle diameter smaller than 3 μm areused as the inorganic filler 6 f when the insulating resin 6 m is mixedwith the inorganic filler 6 f, then a surface area of those particlesbecomes large as a whole, and this possibly leads to moisture absorptionin a periphery of the inorganic filler 6 f having a mean particlediameter smaller than 3 μm, which is disadvantageous in terms of bondingof the IC chip 1 to the board 4.

Therefore, when the inorganic filler 6 f of the same weight is mixed, anamount of moisture absorption in a periphery of the inorganic filler 6 fcan be reduced by employing an inorganic filler 6 f that has a meanparticle diameter of not smaller than 3 μm, and this allows moistureresistance to be improved. Moreover, the inorganic filler of a largermean particle diameter (in other words, average grain size) is generallyless expensive, and this is preferable in terms of cost.

As shown in FIG. 24A, according to a processing method that employsconventional ACF (Anisotropic Conductive Film) 598 for bonding of ICchip 1 to board 4, it is required to place conductive particles 599 inthe ACF 598 between bump 3 and board electrode 5 without fail, andconcurrently effect conductivity by crushing the conductive particlesfrom a diameter of 3 to 5 μm to a diameter of 1 to 3 μm. However, ineach of the aforementioned embodiments of the present invention, theconductive particles 10 a, which may exist, are not necessarily placedbetween bump 3 and board electrode 5. As shown in FIG. 24B, the bump 3is pressure-bonded to board electrode 5 while being crushed, andtherefore, inorganic filler 6 f also slips out of a space between thebump 3 and the board electrode 5 together with anisotropic conductivelayer 10 located between the bump 3 and the board electrode 5 at a timeof this pressure bonding. Because almost no hindrance of conductivityoccurs due to placement of unnecessary inorganic filler 6 f between theboard electrode 5 and the bump 3, the inorganic filler 6 f that has alarge mean particle diameter of not smaller than 3 μm can be employed.That is, according to the present embodiment, even if conductiveparticles 10 a are not placed between the bump 3 and the board electrode5 by chance, and conductivity is not effected by crushing of theconductive particles from a diameter of 3 to 5 μm to a diameter of 1 to3 μm, electrical conductivity is obtained by direct electrical contactof the bump 3 with the board electrode 5 by virtue of crushing of thebump 3 by the board electrode 5. Accordingly, there is no problem, andreliability can be improved without receiving influence of the inorganicfiller. That is, there is produced an additional effect that theconductive particles 10 a can reduce a value of the connectionresistance between board electrode 5 located on the board and bump 3located on the IC chip when placed between the bump 3 and the boardelectrode 5 through direct bonding of the bump 3 to the board electrode5.

Ninth Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component, forexample, an IC chip onto a circuit board, and an electronic componentunit or module, for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chipis mounted on the board by the mounting method, according to a ninthembodiment of the present invention will be described next withreference to FIG. 25 and FIG. 26. FIG. 25 and FIG. 26 are a schematicsectional view of a bonded state produced by the method and apparatusfor mounting an electronic component, for example, an IC chip onto acircuit board, and a partially enlarged schematic sectional view of ananisotropic conductive film sheet 10 employed in this method andapparatus, according to the ninth embodiment. According to this ninthembodiment, the inorganic filler 6 f to be mixed with the insulatingresin 6 m of the anisotropic conductive layer 10 in each of theaforementioned embodiments includes inorganic fillers 6 f-1 and 6 f-2,which have a plurality of different mean particle diameters. As aconcrete example, an inorganic filler having a mean particle diameter of0.5 μm and an inorganic filler having a mean particle diameter of 2 to 4μm are employed.

According to the ninth embodiment, by mixing the insulating resin 6 mwith the inorganic fillers 6 f-1 and 6 f-2, which have the plurality ofdifferent mean particle diameters, an amount of the inorganic filler 6 fto be mixed with the insulating resin 6 m can be increased, and anamount of moisture absorption in a periphery of the inorganic filler canbe reduced. This enables improvement in terms of moisture resistance andfacilitates film formation (solidification). That is, in terms ofpercentage by weight, an amount of the inorganic filler per unit volumecan be increased when inorganic fillers of different particle diametersare mixed as opposed to when one type of inorganic filler is employed.This enables an increase in amount of the inorganic filler 6 f to bepart of the anisotropic conductive film sheet 10 or anisotropicconductive film forming thermosetting adhesive 6 b, that serves as anencapsulation sheet and enables reduction in a coefficient of linearexpansion of the anisotropic conductive film sheet 10 or the anisotropicconductive film forming thermosetting adhesive 6 b, thereby allowing anoperating life to be increased for improvement of reliability.

Tenth Embodiment

Next, according to a method and apparatus for mounting an electroniccomponent, for example, an IC chip onto a circuit board, and anelectronic component unit or module, for example, a semiconductor devicein which the IC chip is mounted on the board by the mounting method,according to a tenth embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed. In order to further ensure an effect of the ninth embodiment,a mean particle diameter of one inorganic filler 6 f-1, of the inorganicfillers 6 f-1 and 6 f-2, is two or more times different from a meanparticle diameter of the other inorganic filler 6 f-2. As a concreteexample, an inorganic filler having a mean particle diameter of 0.5 μmand an inorganic filler having a mean particle diameter of 2 to 4 μm areemployed.

With this arrangement, the effect of the ninth embodiment can further beimproved. That is, by mixing insulating resin 6 m with inorganic fillers6 f-1 and 6 f-2, which have the plurality of different mean particlediameters and in which the mean particle diameter of inorganic filler 6f-1 is two or more times different from the mean particle diameter ofinorganic filler 6 f-2, an amount of the inorganic filler 6 f to bemixed with the insulating resin 6 m can be more reliably increased. Thisarrangement facilitates film formation (solidification), increasesloadings (mixed amount) of the inorganic filler 6 f in the anisotropicconductive film sheet 10 or the anisotropic conductive film formingadhesive 6 b, and enables further reduction in the coefficient of linearexpansion of the anisotropic conductive film sheet 10 or the anisotropicconductive film forming adhesive 6 b, thereby allowing the operatinglife to be increased for further improvement of reliability.

Eleventh Embodiment

Next, according to a method and apparatus for mounting an electroniccomponent, for example, an IC chip onto a circuit board, and anelectronic component unit or module, for example, a semiconductor devicein which the IC chip is mounted on the board by the mounting method,according to an eleventh embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed. In order to further ensure an effect of the ninth embodiment,it is preferable to have the inorganic filler 6 f, to be mixed with theinsulating resin 6 m, include at least two types of inorganic fillers 6f-1 and 6 f-2, which have a plurality of different mean particlediameters, with one inorganic filler 6 f-1 having a mean particlediameter exceeding 3 μm and the other inorganic filler 6 f-2 having amean particle diameter of not greater than 3 μm. As a concrete example,an inorganic filler having a mean particle diameter of 0.5 μm and aninorganic filler having a mean particle diameter of 2 to 4 μm areemployed.

Twelfth Embodiment

Next, according to a method and apparatus for mounting an electroniccomponent, for example, an IC chip onto a circuit board, and anelectronic component unit or module, for example, a semiconductor devicein which the IC chip is mounted on the board by the mounting method,according to a twelfth embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed. Based on each of the aforementioned embodiments, it isacceptable to have the inorganic filler 6 f, to be mixed with theinsulating resin 6 m, include at least two types of inorganic fillers 6f-1 and 6 f-2, which have different mean particle diameters, andconstitute inorganic filler 6 f-1; having the larger mean particlediameter, from a material identical to that of the insulating resin 6 m,thereby producing a stress alleviating effect. As a concrete example, aninorganic filler having a mean particle diameter of 0.5 μm and aninorganic filler having a mean particle diameter of 2 to 4 μm areemployed.

According to this twelfth embodiment, a stress alleviating effect can beproduced, in addition to an operative effect of the ninth embodiment, byvirtue of an arrangement that the inorganic filler 6 f-1 having thelarger mean particle diameter is made of the material identical to thatof the insulating resin 6 m, and integration of the inorganic filler 6f-1 with the insulating resin 6 m when a stress is exerted on theinsulating resin 6 m.

Thirteenth Embodiment

Next, according to a method and apparatus for mounting an electroniccomponent, for example, an IC chip onto a circuit board, and anelectronic component unit or module, for example, a semiconductor devicein which the IC chip is mounted on the board by the mounting method,according to a thirteenth embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed. Based on each of the aforementioned embodiments, it isacceptable to have the inorganic filler 6 f, to be mixed with theinsulating resin 6 m, include at least two types of inorganic fillers 6f-1 and 6 f-2, which have different mean particle diameters, and makeinorganic filler 6 f-1 having the larger mean particle diameter softerthan an epoxy resin of the insulating resin 6 m, thereby producing astress alleviating effect by compression of the inorganic filler 6 f-1.

According to this thirteenth embodiment, the stress alleviating effectcan be produced, in addition to the operative effect of the ninthembodiment, by virtue of an arrangement that the inorganic filler 6 f-1having the larger mean particle diameter is made of the materialidentical to that of the insulating resin 6 m, and an arrangement thatthe inorganic filler 6 f-1 is softer than the epoxy resin of theinsulating resin 6 m. As a consequence, the inorganic filler 6 f-1 iscompressed as shown in FIG. 27 to disperse a tension force, of areactive force against compression, therearound when a stress is exertedon the insulating resin 6 m.

Fourteenth Embodiment

Next, according to a method and apparatus for mounting an electroniccomponent, for example, an IC chip onto a circuit board, and anelectronic component unit or module, for example, a semiconductor devicein which the IC chip is mounted on the board by the mounting method,according to a fourteenth embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed. Based on each of the aforementioned embodiments, it isfurther acceptable to provide a portion 700 or a layer 6 x, whichbelongs to anisotropic conductive layer 10 and is brought into contactwith IC chip 1 or board 4, with a smaller amount of inorganic fillerthan another portion 701 or a layer 6 y, or with no inorganic filler, asshown in FIGS. 28A and 28B, FIGS. 29A and 29B, FIG. 30 and FIG. 31. Inthis case, it is acceptable to gradually vary an amount of inorganicfiller without definitely distinguishing the portion 700 brought intocontact with the IC chip 1 or the board 4 from the other portion 701, asshown in FIGS. 28A and 28B, or to definitely distinguish them from eachother as shown in FIGS. 29A and 29B, FIG. 30 and FIG. 31. That is, inFIGS. 29A and 29B, FIG. 30 and FIG. 31, the anisotropic conductive layer10 is of a multilayer structure provided with a first resin layer 6 xthat is positioned in a portion brought into contact with the IC chip 1or the board 4, and in which an insulating resin, identical to theinsulating resin 6 m, is mixed with the inorganic filler 6 f, as well asa second resin layer 6 y constructed of the insulating resin mixed witha smaller amount of inorganic filler than the first resin layer 6 x, orwith no inorganic filler 6 f.

With this arrangement, the following effects can be produced. That is,if the inorganic filler 6 f is mixed by the same weight percentage (wt%) with the whole body of the anisotropic conductive layer, then theinorganic filler 6 f might increase on the IC chip side or the boardside or in the vicinity of the opposite surfaces of both of them andconversely decreases in a portion located in the middle of the IC chip 1and the board 4. As a result, there is a greater amount of filler 6 f onthe IC chip side or the board side or in the vicinity of the oppositesurfaces of both of them, and therefore, the adhesive strength issometimes reduced between the anisotropic conductive layer 10 and the ICchip 1 or the board 4 or both of them. According to the fourteenthembodiment, with the arrangement that the portion 700 or the layer 6 xbrought in contact with either one of the IC chip 1 and the board 4 ismixed with a smaller amount of inorganic filler than the other portion701 or the layer 6 y or with no inorganic filler 6 f, the reduction inthe adhesive strength due to the large amount of inorganic filler can beprevented.

A variety of modification examples of this fourteenth embodiment will bedescribed below.

First, as a first modification example, as shown in FIG. 28C, FIG. 29Cand FIG. 32A, the anisotropic conductive layer 10 can be constructed sothat the portion 700 brought in contact with both the IC chip 1 and theboard 4 is mixed with a smaller amount of inorganic filler than theother portion 701 or with no inorganic filler 6 f. Also, in this case,it is acceptable to gradually vary the amount of inorganic fillerwithout definitely distinguishing the portion 700 brought in contactwith both the IC chip 1 and the board 4 from the other portion 701 asshown in FIG. 28C or to definitely distinguish them from each other asshown in FIG. 29C and FIG. 32A. That is, in FIG. 29C and FIG. 32A, it isacceptable to make the anisotropic conductive layer 10 have a multilayerstructure further provided with a third resin layer 6 z that is locatedon the opposite side of the first resin layer 6 x with respect to thesecond resin layer 6 y and is constructed of the insulating resin mixedwith a smaller amount of inorganic filler than the first resin layer 6 xor no inorganic filler 6 f and bring the first resin layer 6 x and thethird resin layer 6 z in contact with the IC chip 1 and the board 4,respectively.

Furthermore, as another modification example, it is acceptable to mixthe portion 700 brought in contact with the IC chip 1 or the board 4 orboth of them with the inorganic filler by less than 20 wt % or with noinorganic filler 6 f and mix the other portion 701 with the inorganicfiller by not less than 20 wt %. In this case, it is acceptable togradually vary the amount of inorganic filler without definitelydistinguishing the portion 700 brought in contact with the IC chip 1 orthe board 4 or both of them from the other portion 701 as shown in FIGS.28A, 28B and 28C or to definitely distinguish them from each other asshown in FIGS. 29A, 29B and 29C, FIG. 30, FIG. 31 and FIG. 32A. That is,it is possible to mix the first resin layer 6 x or the first resin layer6 x and the third resin layer 6 z with the inorganic filler by less than20 wt % or with no inorganic filler 6 f and mix the second resin layer 6y with the inorganic filler by not less than 20 wt %.

As a concrete example, assuming that the insulating resin 6 m isprovided by thermosetting epoxy resin, then the second resin layer 6 yoccupies 50 wt % in the case of a ceramic board or 20 wt % in the caseof a glass epoxy board. As an example, the first resin layer 6 x or thethird resin layer 6 z or both of them are made to have a thickness of 15μm, while the second resin layer 6 y is made to have a thickness of 40to 60 μm. The thickness of the anisotropic conductive layer 10 is madeto have a dimension larger than the gap dimension obtained after thebonding of the IC chip 1 to the board 4, so that the space between theIC chip 1 and the board 4 is completely filled with the layer at thetime of bonding of the IC chip 1 to the board 4, further ensuring theconnection.

As another modification example, it is acceptable to reverse theloadings of the inorganic filler with respect to the modificationexample shown in FIG. 28C, FIG. 29C and FIG. 32A. That is, as shown inFIG. 28D, it is acceptable to make a middle portion 702 of the portion703 that belongs to the anisotropic conductive layer 10 and is broughtin contact with both the IC chip 1 and the board 4 is mixed with asmaller amount of inorganic filler than the portion 703 brought incontact with both the IC chip 1 and the board 4 or with no inorganicfiller 6 f. Also in this case, it is acceptable to gradually vary theamount of inorganic filler without definitely distinguishing the portion703 brought in contact with both the IC chip 1 and the board 4 from themiddle portion 702 or to definitely distinguish them from each other asshown in FIG. 29D and FIG. 32B. That is, as shown in FIG. 29D and FIG.32B, the anisotropic conductive layer 10 can be provided with a fourthresin layer 6 v constructed of the insulating resin 6 m that ispositioned in the portion brought in contact with the IC chip 1 and theboard 4 and mixed with the inorganic filler 6 f and a fifth resin layer6 w constructed of the insulating resin 6 m that is positioned in themiddle portion between the IC chip 1 and the board 4 and mixed with asmaller amount of inorganic filler than the fourth resin layer 6 v orwith no inorganic filler.

With this arrangement, the middle portion 702 located between the ICchip 1 and the board 4 or the fifth resin layer 6 w is mixed with asmaller amount of inorganic filler than that of the portion 703 or thefourth resin layer 6 v brought in contact with the IC chip 1 and theboard 4 or with no inorganic filler, and therefore, the elastic modulusis reduced, allowing the stress alleviation effect to be produced. Byselectively employing an insulating resin of high adhesion to the ICchip 1 and the board 4 as the insulating resin of the portion 703 or thefourth resin layer 6 v brought in contact with the IC chip 1 and theboard 4, it is allowed to select the loadings or material of theinorganic filler 6 f so that the portion 703 brought in contact with theIC chip 1 or the fourth resin layer 6 v located in the vicinity of theIC chip 1 comes to have a coefficient of linear expansion closer to thatof the IC chip 1 and select the loadings or material of the inorganicfiller 6 f so that the portion 703 brought in contact with the board 4or the fourth resin layer 6 v located in the vicinity of the board 4comes to have a coefficient of linear expansion closer to that of theboard 4. As a result, the coefficient of linear expansion of the portion703 brought in contact with the IC chip 1 or the fourth resin layer 6 vlocated in the vicinity of the IC chip 1 comes close to that of the ICchip 1. Therefore, both the members are hard to separate, and since thecoefficient of linear expansion of the portion 703 brought in contactwith the board 4 or the fourth resin layer 6 v located in the vicinityof the board 4 comes close to that of the board 4, both the members arehard to separate.

Furthermore, as indicated by the solid lines in FIGS. 33A and 33B, theanisotropic conductive layer 10 can also be constructed so that theamount of the inorganic filler is reduced gradually or in steps from theportion P1 brought in contact with either the IC chip 1 or the board 4toward the other portion P2.

As indicated by the solid lines in FIGS. 33C and 33D, the anisotropicconductive layer 10 can also be constructed so that the amount of theinorganic filler is reduced gradually or in steps from portions P3 andP4 brought in contact with the IC chip 1 and the board 4, respectively,toward another portion, i.e., a middle portion P5 located between the ICchip 1 and the board 4.

As indicated by the solid line in FIG. 33E, the anisotropic conductivelayer 10 can also be constructed so that the amount of the inorganicfiller is gradually reduced from a portion brought in contact with theIC chip 1 and the board 4 (portion corresponding to the contact portion703 in the modification example of FIG. 28D) toward a middle portion(portion corresponding to the middle portion 702 in the modificationexample of FIG. 28D) located between the IC chip 1 and the board 4.

As indicated by the solid line in FIG. 33F, the anisotropic conductivelayer 10 can also be constructed so that the amount of the inorganicfiller is mixed less in the order of a portion located in the vicinityof the IC chip 1, a portion located in the vicinity of the board 4, anda middle portion located between the vicinity of the IC chip 1 and thevicinity of the board 4. Although the amount of the inorganic filler isgradually reduced in the above-mentioned order as shown by example inFIG. 33F, without being limited to this, the amount may be reduced insteps.

With the arrangements of the modification examples of FIGS. 33E and 33F,the middle portion located between the IC chip 1 and the board 4 ismixed with a smaller amount of inorganic filler than that of theportions brought in contact with the IC chip 1 and the board 4 or withno inorganic filler. Therefore, the elastic modulus becomes reduced,allowing the stress alleviation effect to be produced. By selectivelyemploying an insulating resin of high adhesion to the IC chip 1 and theboard 4 as the insulating resin of the portion brought in contact withthe IC chip 1 and the board 4, it is allowed to select the loadings ormaterial of the inorganic filler 6 f so that the portion brought incontact with the IC chip 1 comes to have a coefficient of linearexpansion closer to that of the IC chip 1 and select the loadings ormaterial of the inorganic filler 6 f so that the portion brought incontact with the board 4 comes to have a coefficient of linear expansioncloser to that of the board 4. If the loadings of the inorganic filler 6f is determined from this point of view, then, as indicated by the solidline in FIG. 33F, the amount of the inorganic filler is mixed less inthe order of a portion located in the vicinity of the IC chip 1, aportion located in the vicinity of the board 4, and a middle portionlocated between the vicinity of the IC chip 1 and the vicinity of theboard 4. With this construction, the coefficient of linear expansion ofthe portion brought in contact with the IC chip 1 comes close to that ofthe IC chip 1. Therefore, both the members are hard to separate, andsince the coefficient of linear expansion of the portion brought incontact with the board 4 comes close to that of the board 4, both themembers are hard to separate.

In any one of the cases of FIG. 33A through 33F, it is practicallypreferable to set the amount of the inorganic filler within a range of 5to 90 wt %. When the ratio is lower than 5 wt %, the mixture of theinorganic filler 6 f is meaningless. When the ratio exceeds 90 wt %, theadhesive strength is extremely reduced, and it is difficult to form asheet, leading to a disadvantage.

When the IC chip 1 is thermocompression bonded to the board 4 employinga film of a multilayer structure constructed of the plurality of resinlayers 6 x and 6 y or resin layers 6 x, 6 y, and 6 z as described aboveas an anisotropic conductive layer, the insulating resin 6 m is softenedand melted by heat at the time of bonding, causing the mixture of theresin layers. Therefore, finally, the definite boundaries between theresin layers disappear, and the inclined inorganic filler distributionsas shown in FIG. 33 result.

Furthermore, in the fourteenth embodiment or the modification examples,it is also possible to employ different insulating resins foranisotropic conductive layer that has a portion or layer including theinorganic filler 6 f or the anisotropic conductive layer in which theinorganic filler distribution is inclined, according to the portion orthe resin layer. For example, it is also possible to employ aninsulating resin that improves the adhesion to the film material to beused on the IC chip surface for the portion or the resin layer broughtin contact with the IC chip 1 and employ an insulating resin thatimproves the adhesion to the material of the board surface for theportion or the resin layer brought in contact with the board 4.

According to the fourteenth embodiment and the various modificationexamples thereof, no or a smaller amount of inorganic filler 6 f existsin the bonding interface of the IC chip 1 or the board 4 and theanisotropic conductive layer 10, and the innate adhesion of theinsulating resin is effected. This increases the insulating resin ofhigh adhesion in the bonding interface, allowing the adhesion strengthof the IC chip 1 or the board 4 and the insulating resin 6 m andimproving the adhesion to the IC chip 1 or the board 4. With thisarrangement, the operating life is improved during a variety ofreliability tests, and the peel strength to bending is improved.

If an inorganic filler 6 f, which does not contribute to the bondingitself but has the effect of reducing the coefficient of linearexpansion, is uniformly distributed in the insulating resin 6 m, thenthe inorganic filler 6 f comes in contact with the surface of the board4 or the IC chip. This leads to a reduction in the amount of adhesivecontributing to the bonding and to degraded adhesion. As a result, ifthe separation between the IC chip 1 or the board 4 and the adhesiveoccurs, moisture enters the portion, causing the corrosion of theelectrode of IC chip 1 or the like. If the separation progresses fromthe separated portion, then the very bonding of the IC chip 1 to theboard 4 becomes defective, causing a defective electrical connection.

In contrast to this, according to the fourteenth embodiment and thevarious modification examples thereof as described above, the adhesivestrength can be improved with the effect of reducing the coefficient oflinear expansion by the inorganic filler 6 f kept provided. Thisimproves the adhesion strength to the IC chip 1 and the board 4 andimproves the reliability.

Furthermore, when the portion 700 or the resin layer 6 x that has asmall amount of inorganic filler 6 f is arranged on the IC chip side orwhen the inorganic filler distribution is reduced on the IC chip side,the portion 700 or the resin layer 6 x is able to have an improvedadhesive strength to the passivation film made of silicon nitride orsilicon oxide on the IC chip surface. It is also possible to properlyselect and employ an insulating resin that improves adhesion to the filmmaterial used on the IC chip surface. Moreover, by reducing the elasticmodulus in the vicinity of the IC chip, the stress concentration in theencapsulating sheet material, which is one example of the anisotropicconductive layer, is alleviated. If such a structure is adopted when thematerial used for the board 4 is as hard as ceramic (with high elasticmodulus), then there is advantageously provided matching with theencapsulating sheet material in the vicinity of the board in terms ofelastic modulus and the coefficient of linear expansion.

In the case where the portion 700 or the resin layer 6 xhaving a smallamount of inorganic filler 6 f is arranged on the board side or in thecase where the inorganic filler distribution is reduced on the boardside, if a bending stress is applied when the board 4 is assembled intothe casing of electric equipment when a bending force is applied to theboard 4 as in the case of a resin board or a flexible board (FPC), thenthe portion or layer can be used for the purpose of improving theadhesion strength exerted between the board 4 and the encapsulatingsheet that serves as an example of the anisotropic conductive layer. Inthe case where the surface layer on the IC chip side is constructed of aprotecting film formed of a polyimide film, the elastic modulus and thecoefficient of linear expansion vary continuously or in steps from theIC chip 1 to the board 4 when the adhesion of the insulating resin isgenerally satisfactory and has no problem, allowing the encapsulatingsheet to be made of a hard material on the IC chip side and of a softmaterial on the board side. With this arrangement, the stress generationinside the encapsulating sheet is reduced, and therefore, thereliability is improved.

Furthermore, in the case where the portion 700 or the resin layers 6 xand 6 z having a small amount of inorganic filler 6 f are arranged onboth the IC chip side and the board side or in the case where theinorganic filler distribution is reduced on both the IC chip side andthe board side, a compatibility is assured on both the IC chip side andthe board side. This enables the improvement in adhesion on both the ICchip side and the board side and the connection of both the IC chip 1and the board 4 with high reliability with a reduced coefficient oflinear expansion. Moreover, it is allowed to select and employ aninsulating resin of excellent adhesion and resin wettability accordingto the material of the surface on the IC chip side and the boardmaterial. Moreover, the inclination of the loadings of the inorganicfiller 6 f can be freely changed, and therefore, it is possible toprovide matching with the board material by extremely reducing thethickness of the portion or layer that has a small amount of inorganicfiller 6 f or taking similar measures.

Fifteenth Embodiment

According to a fifteenth embodiment of the present invention, a processfor producing an anisotropic conductive layer to be used for the methodsand apparatuses for mounting electronic components of, for example, ICchips on circuit boards and electronic component units or modules of,for example, semiconductor devices in which the IC chips are mounted onthe boards by the mounting methods according to the eighth throughfourteenth embodiments and the modification examples thereof will bedescribed next with reference to FIG. 34 and FIG. 35.

First of all, when forming an anisotropic conductive layer directly onthe circuit board 4, a first resin sheet is stuck onto the circuit board4, and a second resin sheet is stuck onto the sheet.

When there is a great amount of inorganic filler 6 f in the first resinsheet at this time, there is the result as shown in FIG. 28A or FIG. 30.In the converse case, there is the result as shown in FIG. 28B or FIG.31. That is, in the former case, the first resin sheet is a resin sheetcorresponding to the portion 701 or the second resin layer 6 y that hasa great amount of inorganic filler 6 f. In the latter case, the sheet isa resin sheet corresponding to the portion 700 or the first resin layer6 x that has a small amount of inorganic filler 6 f.

When a third resin sheet is further formed on the second resin sheettogether with the first resin sheet and the third resin sheetcorresponding to the portion 700 or the first resin layer 6 x that has asmall amount of inorganic filler 6 f, there is the result as shown inFIG. 28C or FIG. 32A.

It is also acceptable to preliminarily form a first resin sheet 673 anda second resin sheet 674 on a base film 672 that is called a separatorin this order (only this case is shown in FIG. 34 and FIG. 35) orreversely or together with a third resin sheet stuck as shown in FIG. 34and FIG. 35. In this case, as shown in FIG. 34 and FIG. 35, theplurality of resin sheets 673 and 674 are stuck while heating at need bymeans of a vertical pair of heatable rollers 670 and 270 as shown inFIG. 34 and FIG. 35. Subsequently, by cutting the formed resin sheetbody 671 every prescribed dimension, there is the anisotropic conductivefilm sheet 10 as shown in any one of FIGS. 28A through 28C, FIGS. 29Athrough 29C and FIGS. 30 through 32.

When producing an anisotropic conductive film sheet body of thecontinuous anisotropic conductive film sheets 10 as another modificationexample, epoxy and inorganic fillers dissolved in a solvent are appliedto a base film called a separator by the doctor blade method or thelike.

This solvent is dried to produce the anisotropic conductive film sheetbody.

At this time, a liquid insulating resin in which the density of theinorganic filler 6 f is low or no inorganic filler 6 f is contained isonce applied as a first layer to the base film, and according tocircumstances, the applied first layer is dried. When the layer is notdried, a certain amount of the inorganic filler 6 f of the second layeris mixed with the first layer, providing a structure in which theinorganic filler distribution is inclined as shown in FIG. 33.

A liquid insulating resin mixed with a greater amount of inorganicfiller 6 f than that of the first layer is applied as a second layeronto the first layer formed that has been applied and formed. By dryingthe second layer, there is formed an anisotropic conductive film sheetbody of a two-layer structure in which the first layer and the secondlayer are formed on the base film. By cutting the anisotropic conductivefilm sheet body every specified dimension, there is an anisotropicconductive film sheet 10 as shown in FIG. 28A, FIG. 29A and FIG. 30.

When the layer that has a small amount of inorganic filler 6 f isarranged on the board side, the anisotropic conductive film sheet bodyof a two-layer structure can be formed by a process reverse to theabove, i.e., by forming the second layer on the base film and thereafterforming the first layer on the second layer. By cutting the anisotropicconductive film sheet body every specified dimension, there is ananisotropic conductive film sheet 10 as shown in FIG. 28B, FIG. 29B andFIG. 31.

The insulating resin 6 m in which the density of the inorganic filler 6f is low or no inorganic filler 6 f is contained is once applied anddried as the first layer (sometimes omitted), and an insulating resinmixed with a greater amount of the inorganic filler 6 f or with noinorganic filler 6 f is applied onto the first layer and dried as thesecond layer (sometimes omitted). The third layer in which the amount ofthe inorganic filler is smaller than that of the second layer is appliedonto the second layer. By drying this, there can be formed ananisotropic conductive film sheet body of a three-layer structure inwhich the first layer, the second layer, and the third layer are formedon the base film. By cutting the anisotropic conductive film sheet bodyevery specified dimension, there is an anisotropic conductive film sheet10 as shown in FIG. 28C, FIG. 29C and FIG. 32A.

According to the method for forming the anisotropic conductive layerdirectly on the circuit board 4, on a side of manufacturing theelectronic component unit, the resin material most appropriate for theelectronic component is selected and arranged on the electroniccomponent side of the anisotropic conductive layer, while the resinmaterial most appropriate for the board can be selected and arranged onthe board side, so that the degree of freedom of selecting the resin canbe improved.

In contrast to this, according to the method of manufacturing theanisotropic conductive film sheet body, a lot of the anisotropicconductive film sheets 10 can be collectively manufactured although thedegree of freedom of selection is less than the above-mentioned case.

This leads to a satisfactory manufacturing efficiency and an inexpensivecost and needs only one sticking device.

As described above, according to the aforementioned embodiments of thepresent invention, many processes that have conventionally been neededfor bonding the electronic component of, for example, an IC chip to thecircuit board can be eliminated, and the productivity can be remarkablyimproved. That is, in the case of, for example, the stud bump bondingand the solder bump bonding described as prior art examples, it isrequired to inject an encapsulating material after flip chip bonding andput the board in a batch type furnace to perform hardening. A time ofseveral minutes per unit is required for the injection of theencapsulating material, and a time of two to five hours are required forthe hardening of the encapsulating material. The stud bump bondingmounting further needs a process for transferring an Ag paste to thebump as pre-processing, mounting this on a board and thereafterhardening the Ag paste. Two hours are required for this process. Incontrast to this, according to the methods of the aforementionedembodiments, the encapsulating process can be eliminated, allowing theproductivity to be remarkably improved. Furthermore, according to theaforementioned embodiment, employing the solid or semi-solid insulatingresin encapsulating sheet etc. allows the employment of, for example,epoxy resin of a great molecular weight, allows the achievement ofbonding in a short time of about 10 to 20 seconds, allows the reductionin bonding time and allows the productivity to be further improved.Furthermore, the following effects can also be produced.

(1) Bump Formation

According to the method of forming a bump with plating (third priorart), a special bump forming process is required to be performed by thesemiconductor manufacturer, and therefore, the bump formation can beformed only by the limited manufacturers. However, according to theaforementioned embodiments of the present invention, IC chips forgeneral-purpose wire bonding can be employed by means of a wire bondingdevice, and IC chips can easily be obtained. The reason why the IC chipsfor general-purpose wire bonding can be employed is that bumps can beformed on an ordinary IC pad on which Al pads are formed by means of awire bonding device or a bump bonding apparatus so long as the IC chipsare for wire bonding use. On the other hand, in order to form a platingbump by the method of forming a bump with plating (third prior art),there are the processes of forming a barrier metal of Ti, Cu, Cr, or thelike on an Al pad, applying a resist by spin coating, and forming a holeby exposure only in the bump forming portion. The bump is formed byelectrifying this and plating the hole portion with Au or the like.Therefore, a large-scale plating apparatus and a waste disposal plant ofhazardous substances such as cyanides are needed to form the platingbump, and therefore, it is practically impossible to do so in a factorythat carries out the ordinary assembly processes.

Moreover, the bump leveling for stabilizing the amount of transfer ofthe adhesive in an unstable transfer process of transfer such as thetransfer of the conductive adhesive becomes unnecessary by comparisonwith the method of the first prior art, and the leveling device for sucha leveling process becomes unnecessary. The above is because it is notrequired to preliminarily level only the bumps since the bumps arecrushed on the electrodes of the board while pressurizing the bumps.

Moreover, if the following method is adopted to the embodiments, bondingof high reliability can also be achieved even when a bump 103 is bondedto the electrode 5 of the circuit board 4 as mounted with a shift. Thatis, when forming the bump 3 on the IC chip 1, a gold ball 96 a is formedby subjecting the gold wire to an electric spark similarly to the wirebonding. Next, a ball 96 a of a Φd-Bump of the diameter denoted by 95 ais formed, and a bump 103 is formed on the electrode 2 of the IC chip 1by supersonic waves and thermocompression-bonding by means of acapillary 193 designed so that a chamfer diameter φD denoted by 93 a ofthe capillary 193 whose chamfer angle θc is not greater than 100°becomes one-half to three-fourths the gold ball diameter d-Bump and noflat portion is provided in the portion to be brought in contact withthe gold ball 96 a of a capillary 193 in terms of tip shape. By usingthe capillary 193 that has the above-mentioned configuration, anapproximately conically tipped bump 103 as shown in FIG. 10B can beformed on the electrode 2 of the IC chip 1. Even when the bump 103formed by the aforementioned method is mounted on the electrode 5 of thecircuit board 4 while being shifted by a dimension Z as shown in FIG.11C, the bump 103 can partially come in contact with the electrode 5 ofthe board 4 without fail so long as the shift is not greater than halfthe outside diameter of the bump 103 since the bump 103 has theapproximately conically tipped shape. The so-called base 3 g of a widthdimension d of the bump 3 partially comes in contact with the electrodein FIG. 11D of the conventional bump 3. However, this contact is merepartial contact, leading to unstable bonding. If this is subjected to athermal shock test or reflow, the bonded portion becomes open. Thepresent invention can eliminate the above-mentioned unstable bonding andprovide the bonding of high production yield and high reliability.

(2) Bonding of IC Chip to Circuit Board

According to the method of the second prior art, the connectionresistance has been depended on the number of conductive particles thatexist between the bump and the electrode of the circuit board. However,according to the aforementioned embodiments of the present invention, itis not required to place conductive particles between both theelectrodes for the electrical continuity between the IC chip sideelectrode and the board side electrode, and the bump 3 can be directlyconnected to the electrode 5 by being pressed against the electrode 5 ofthe circuit board 4 with a load (for example, a pressure force of notsmaller than 20 gf per bump 3) heavier than in the first and secondprior art examples without being leveled in the leveling process as anindependent process. Therefore, the connection resistance value does notdepend on the number of interposed particles, and the connectionresistance value can be stably obtained. That is, the conductiveparticles 10 a produce the additional effect that the value of theconnection resistance between the electrode 5 located on the board sideand the bump 3 located on the IC chip side can be reduced when theconductive particles 10 a are placed between the bump 3 and the boardelectrode 5 in directly bonding the bump 3 to the board electrode 5.

Although the conventional leveling process has been performed in orderto shape the bump height constant at the time of bonding to the boardelectrode, the crushing of the bump 3 can be performed concurrently withthe bonding to the electrode 2 or 5 in each of the embodiments of thepresent invention. Therefore, no independent leveling process is needed,and the bonding can be achieved while correcting the warp and undulationof the circuit board 4 by deforming the same at the time of bonding, orthe bonding is achieved while correcting the warp and undulation of thecircuit board 4 by deforming the same at the time of bonding without theneed for the leveling process of the bumps 3 and 103 by hardening theconductive paste stuck to the bumps 3 and 103 and deforming theconductive paste at the time of bonding. Accordingly, this arrangementtolerates the warp and undulation.

There are needed a high-accuracy board 4 and the uniform leveling of thebumps 3 and 103, as exemplified by 10 μm per IC chip (meaning that athickness warp dimension accuracy of 10 μm per IC chip is needed) in thefirst prior art, 2 μm per IC chip in the second prior art, and 1 μm perIC chip in the third prior art (bump height variation of not greaterthan ±1 μm). In practice, a glass board represented by LCD is employed.In contrast to this, according to the aforementioned embodiments of thepresent invention, the bonding is achieved while correcting the warp andundulation of the circuit board 4 by deforming the same at the time ofbonding. Therefore, a board of a degraded surface flatness includingwarp and undulation, exemplified by a resin board, a flexible board, amultilayer ceramic board, or the like, can be employed, and a lessexpensive versatile IC chip bonding method can be provided.

If the volume of the thermosetting resin 6 m located between the IC chip1 and the circuit board 4 is set greater than the volume of the spacebetween the IC chip 1 and the circuit board 4, then the resin flows outof this space, producing the encapsulating effect. Therefore, it is notrequired to lay an encapsulation resin (underfill coat) under the ICchip after the bonding of the IC chip to the circuit board with theconductive adhesive, which has been needed in the first prior art, andthe process can be shortened.

By mixing the inorganic filler 6 f with the thermosetting resin 6 m byabout 5 to 90 wt % of the thermosetting resin 6 m, the elastic modulusand the coefficient of thermal expansion of the thermosetting resin canbe controlled to be optimum for the board 4. In addition to this, ifthis is utilized for the ordinary plating bump, then the inorganicfiller enters the space between the bump and the circuit board,degrading the bonding reliability. However, if the stud bump (formingmethod utilizing wire bonding) is employed as in the aforementionedembodiments of the present invention, then the inorganic filler 6 f andalso the thermosetting resin 6 m are forced outwardly of the bumps 3 and103 by the pointed bumps 3 and 103 that enter the thermosetting resin 6m at the beginning of the bonding. By this operation, the inorganicfiller 6 f and the thermosetting resin 6 m are forced outwardly of thespace between the bumps 3 and 103 and the electrodes 5 and 2 in theprocess of the deformation of the pointed bumps 3 and 103, and theunnecessary interposed object can be eliminated, allowing thereliability to be further improved.

According to the present invention described above, the method andapparatus for bonding electronic components such as IC chips to acircuit boards can be provided with higher productivity and lower costthan those of the conventional bonding method.

The aforementioned first embodiment can also be applied to the bondingof an IC chip 1 that has the leveled stud bumps 300 and 301 as shown inFIGS. 37A and 37B besides the bumps 3 that are not leveled as shown inFIG. 1 to the board 4. In this case, although the leveling process isnecessary, the other effects that the encapsulating process becomesunnecessary can be produced. The aforementioned bump can also beprovided by a bump that is formed roughly similarly to FIGS. 37A and 37Bin terms of appearance by plating or printing. For example, it ispossible to form a bump of titanium, nickel, and gold provided byplating in this order on the IC chip electrode or print a paste obtainedby mixing aluminum, nickel, or the like with a synthetic resin on the ICchip electrode and drying or hardening the same to form a polymer bump.Particularly when a leveled bump or a bump formed by plating or printingis employed, it is concerned that the electrical connection between thebump and the board electrode might become unstable due to the possibleoccurrence of the unintended placement of the inorganic filler betweenthe bump and the board electrode since the deformation of the bump islittle. However, the conductive particles 10 a are to be placed betweenthe bump and the board electrode, and the continuity between the bumpand the board electrode can be secured with this conductive particles 10a.

As described above, the present invention is able to eliminate theprocesses that have conventionally been needed for bonding an electroniccomponent to a circuit board and remarkably improve the productivity.

The following effects can also be produced.

(1) Bump Formation

According to the method of forming a bump with plating (third priorart), a special bump forming process is required to be performed by thesemiconductor manufacturer, and therefore, the bump formation can beformed only by the limited manufacturers. However, according to thepresent invention, IC chips for general-purpose wire bonding can beemployed as an example of the electronic component by means of a wirebonding device, and IC chips can easily be available.

Moreover, the bump leveling for stabilizing the amount of transfer ofthe adhesive in an unstable transfer process of transfer such as thetransfer of the conductive adhesive becomes unnecessary by comparisonwith the method of the first prior art, and the leveling device for sucha leveling process becomes unnecessary.

If the approximately conically tipped bump is formed on the electrode ofan electronic component, even when the bump is mounted on the electrodeof the circuit board while being shifted, the bump can partially come incontact with the electrode of the board without fail so long as theshift is not greater than half the outside diameter of the bump sincethe bump has the approximately conically tipped shape. According to theconventional bump, the so-called base of the bump partially comes incontact with the electrode. However, this contact is mere partialcontact, leading to unstable bonding. If this is subjected to a thermalshock test or reflow, the bonded portion becomes open. The presentinvention can eliminate the above-mentioned unstable bonding and providethe bonding of high production yield and high reliability.

(2) Bonding of IC Chip to Circuit Board

According to the method of the second prior art, the connectionresistance has been depended on the number of conductive particles thatexist between the bump and the electrode of the circuit board. However,according to the present invention, it is not required to placeconductive particles between both the electrodes for the electricalcontinuity between the electronic component side electrode and the boardside electrode, and the bump can be directly connected to the electrodeby being pressed against the electrode of the circuit board with a load(for example, a pressure force of not smaller than 20 gf per bump)heavier than in the first and second prior art examples without beingleveled in the leveling process as an independent process. Therefore,the connection resistance value does not depend on the number ofinterposed particles, and the connection resistance value can be stablyobtained. That is, the conductive particles produce the additionaleffect that the value of the connection resistance between the electrodelocated on the board side and the bump located on the electroniccomponent side can be reduced when the conductive particles are placedbetween the bump and the board electrode in directly bonding the bump tothe board electrode.

Although the conventional leveling process has been performed in orderto shape the bump height constant at the time of bonding to the boardelectrode, the crushing of the bump can be performed concurrently withthe bonding to the electrode according to the present invention.Therefore, no independent leveling process is needed, and the bondingcan be achieved while correcting the warp and undulation of the circuitboard by deforming the same, or the bonding is achieved while correctingthe warp and undulation of the circuit board by deforming the same atthe time of bonding without the need for the leveling process of thebumps by hardening the conductive paste stuck to the bumps and deformingthe conductive paste at the time of bonding. Accordingly, thisarrangement tolerates the warp and undulation.

There are needed a high-accuracy board and the uniform leveling of thebumps, as exemplified by 10 μm per IC chip (meaning that a thicknesswarp dimension accuracy of 10 μm per IC chip is needed) in the firstprior art, 2 μm per IC chip in the second prior art, and 1 μm per ICchip in the third prior art (bump height variation of not greater than±1 μm). In practice, a glass board represented by LCD is employed. Incontrast to this, according to the present invention, the bonding isachieved while correcting the warp and undulation of the circuit boardby deforming the same at the time of bonding. Therefore, a board of adegraded surface flatness including warp and undulation, exemplified bya resin board, a flexible board, a multilayer ceramic board, or thelike, can be employed, and a less expensive versatile IC chip bondingmethod can be provided.

If the volume of the insulating resin located between the electroniccomponent and the circuit board is set greater than the volume of thespace between the electronic component and the circuit board, then theresin flows out of this space, producing the encapsulating effect.Therefore, it is not required to lay an encapsulation resin (underfillcoat) under the IC chip after the bonding of the IC chip to the circuitboard with the conductive adhesive, which has been needed in the firstprior art, and the process can be shortened.

By mixing the inorganic filler with the insulating resin by about 5 to90 wt % of the insulating resin, the elastic modulus and the coefficientof thermal expansion of the insulating resin can be controlled to beoptimum for the board. In addition to this, if this is utilized for theordinary plating bump, then the inorganic filler enters the spacebetween the bump and the circuit board, degrading the bondingreliability. However, if the stud bump (forming method utilizing wirebonding) is employed as in the present invention, then the inorganicfiller and also the insulating resin are forced outwardly of the bumpsby the pointed bumps that enter the insulating resin at the beginning ofthe bonding. By this operation, the inorganic filler and the insulatingresin are forced outwardly of the space between the bumps and theelectrodes in the process of the deformation of the pointed bumps, andthe unnecessary interposed object can be eliminated, allowing thereliability to be further improved.

When the inorganic filler of the same weight is mixed, by employinglarger inorganic filler that has a mean particle diameter of not smallerthan 3 μm, employing an inorganic filler that has a plurality ofdifferent mean particle diameters, employing inorganic fillers in whichthe mean particle diameter of one inorganic filler is two times or moredifferent from the mean particle diameter of the other inorganic filler,or employing at least two types of inorganic fillers in which oneinorganic filler has a mean particle diameter exceeding 3 μm and theother inorganic filler has a mean particle diameter of not greater than3 μm, the amount of moisture absorption to the periphery of theinorganic filler can be reduced to allow the moisture resistance to beimproved and allow the amount of the inorganic filler to be increased,facilitating the film formation (solidification). Furthermore, thecoefficient of linear expansion of the anisotropic conductive layer of,for example, the anisotropic conductive film sheet or the anisotropicconductive film forming adhesive can be reduced, allowing the operatinglife to be increased, for the improvement in reliability.

Furthermore, if the one inorganic filler of the larger mean particlediameter is made of a material identical to the aforementionedinsulating resin, then the stress alleviating effect can be produced. Ifthe inorganic filler of the larger mean particle diameter is made softerthan the epoxy resin that serves as the insulating resin and the oneinorganic filler is compressed, then the stress alleviating effect canalso be produced.

Moreover, if the inorganic filler is not existing or reduced in amountin the bonding interface between the electronic component or the boardand the anisotropic conductive layer, the innate adhesion of theinsulating resin is effected. This increases the insulating resin ofhigh adhesion in the bonding interface, allowing the adhesion strengthof the electronic component or the board and the insulating resin to beimproved and improving the adhesion of the insulating resin to theelectronic component or the board with the effect of reducing thecoefficient of linear expansion by the inorganic filler kept intact.With this arrangement, the operating life is improved during a varietyof reliability tests, and the peel strength to bending is improved.

Furthermore, by employing an insulating resin, which improves theadhesion to the film material used on the surface of the electroniccomponent in the portion or layer brought in contact with the electroniccomponent and employing the insulating resin, which improves theadhesion to the material of the board surface, in the portion or layerbrought in contact with the board, the adhesion can further be improved.

As described above, according to the present invention, there can beprovided the method and apparatus for bonding electronic components toboards with high productivity and high reliability without needing theresin encapsulating process to pour resin between the electroniccomponent and the board and the bump leveling process for regulating thebump height constant after the bonding of the electronic component tothe circuit board.

Sixteenth Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component of, forexample, an IC chip on a circuit board and an electronic component unitor module of, for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chipis mounted on the board by the mounting method, according to a sixteenthembodiment of the present invention will be described below withreference to FIG. 38A through FIG. 51.

The method for mounting an IC chip on a circuit board according to thesixteenth embodiment of the present invention will be described firstwith reference to FIG. 38A through FIG. 41C. Bumps (protrudingelectrodes) 3 are formed on Al pad electrodes 2 of an IC chip 1 thatserves as one example of the electronic component of FIG. 38A by a wirebonding device through the operation shown in FIG. 40A through FIG. 40F.That is, a ball 96 is formed at the lower end of a wire 95 protrudingfrom a capillary 93 that serves as a holder in FIG. 40A, and thecapillary 93 that is holding the wire 95 is lowered in FIG. 40B so as tobond the ball 96 to the electrode 2 of the chip 1, roughly forming theshape of the bump 3. By making the capillary 93 start to move up whiledownwardly feeding the wire 95 in FIG. 40C, moving the capillary 93 inan approximately rectangle-shaped loop 99 as shown in FIG. 40D to form acurved portion 98 on the upper portion of the bump 3 as shown in FIG.40E and tear off the wire, the bump 3 as shown in FIG. 40F is formed.Otherwise, by clamping the wire 95 by the capillary 93 and pulling thecapillary 93 upward in FIG. 40B, the metal wire of, for example, a goldwire (gold line) 95 (note that the examples of the metal wire includethose made of zinc, aluminum, copper, or an alloy obtained byincorporating a trace element into these metals, and the gold wire (goldline) will hereinafter be referred to as a representative example in thefollowing embodiments) may be torn off so as to form a bump 3 of a shapeas shown in FIG. 40G. A state in which the bump 3 is thus formed on eachelectrode 2 of the chip 1 is shown in FIG. 38B.

Next, as shown in FIG. 38D, an insulating resin sheet that serves as anexample of a solid or semi-solid insulating resin layer of, for example,a thermosetting resin sheet 6, which is cut into a size slightly largerthan the size of the chip 1 and mixed with an inorganic filler 6 f, isarranged on the electrodes 5 of the circuit board 4 shown in FIG. 38C,and the thermosetting resin sheet 6 is stuck to the electrode 5 of theboard 4 placed on a stage 109 with a pressure force of, for example,about 5 to 10 kgf/cm² by means of a sticking tool 7 heated to, forexample, 80 to 120° C. Subsequently, by peeling off a separator 6 aremovably arranged on the tool 7 side of the solid or semi-solidthermosetting resin sheet 6 mixed with the inorganic filler 6 f, apreparation process of the board 4 is completed. This separator 6 a isto prevent the solid or semi-solid thermosetting resin sheet 6 mixedwith the inorganic filler 6 f from adhering to the tool 7. In this case,as shown in FIG. 38G that is an enlarged view of a portion G of FIG.38F, the thermosetting resin sheet 6 is preferably provided by mixing aninsulating resin 306 m with an inorganic filler 6 f of ceramics ofspherical or pulverized silica, alumina, or the like in dispersion,flattening this by the doctor blade method or the like and vaporizingthe solvent component for solidification and preferably have a heatresistance to the extent of tolerating a high temperature in thesubsequent reflow process (for example, a heat resistance capable oftolerating a temperature of 240° C. for ten seconds). The insulatingresin can be provided by, for example, an insulative thermosetting resin(for example, epoxy resin, phenol resin, and polyimide) or an insulativethermoplastic resin (for example, polyphenylene sulfide (PPS),polycarbonate, and modified polyphenylene oxide (PPO)), a mixture of aninsulative thermosetting resin with an insulative thermoplastic resin,or the like. In this case, description will be continued with theinsulative thermosetting resin taken as a representative example. Thisthermosetting resin 306 m generally has a glass transition point ofabout 120 to 200° C. When a thermoplastic resin is only employed, theresin is once softened by heating at the beginning and then hardened bybeing naturally cooled with the heating stopped. When a mixture of aninsulative thermosetting resin with an insulative thermoplastic resin isemployed, the resin is hardened by being heated similarly to the case ofonly the thermosetting resin is employed because the thermosetting resinfunctions predominantly.

Next, as shown in FIG. 38E and FIG. 38F, in an electronic componentmounting apparatus 600 shown in FIG. 55, the chip 1 in which the bumps 3are formed on the electrodes 2 through the aforementioned process issucked and held from a tray 602 by a heated bonding tool 8 located atthe tip of a component holding member 601, and the IC chip 1 is pressedagainst the board 4 by the heated bonding tool 8 after being aligned inposition with the electrodes 5 of the board 4 corresponding to theelectrodes 2 of the IC chip 1, the board 4 having been prepared throughthe aforementioned preceding process and mounted on a stage 9. Thispositional alignment is performed by a well-known position recognizingoperation. For example, as shown in FIG. 56C, a positional recognitionmark(s) 605 or a lead(s) or a land pattern(s) formed on the board 4 isrecognized by a board recognizing camera 604 of the electronic componentmounting apparatus 600. As shown in FIG. 56D, the position of the board4 is recognized by recognizing the XY coordinate position in theorthogonal XY directions on the stage 9 of the board 4 and therotational position relative to the origin of the XY coordinate systemon the basis of an image 606 obtained by the camera 604. On the otherhand, a mark 608 or a circuit pattern for recognizing the position ofthe IC chip 1 sucked and held by the bonding tool 8 is recognized by anIC chip position recognizing camera 603 as shown in FIG. 56A, and theposition of the IC chip 1 is recognized by recognizing the XY coordinateposition in the orthogonal XY directions of the IC chip 1 and therotational position relative to the origin of the XY coordinate systemon the basis of an image 607 obtained by the camera 603 as shown in FIG.56B. Then, the bonding tool 8 or the stage 9 is moved on the basis ofthe position recognition results of the board 4 and the IC chip 1 toperform positional alignment so that the electrodes 2 of the IC chip 1are positioned on the corresponding electrodes 5 of the board 4, andthereafter, the IC chip 1 is pressed against the board 4 by the heatedbonding tool 8.

At this time, the bump 3 is pressed against the electrode 5 of the board4 in a manner that a head portion 3 a of the bump 3 is deformed as shownin FIG. 41A and FIG. 41B. At this time, as shown in FIG. 39A and FIG.39B, the inorganic filler 6 f in the thermosetting resin 306 m is forcedoutwardly of the bump 3 by the pointed bump 3 that enters thethermosetting resin 306 m at the beginning of the bonding. Moreover, asshown in FIG. 39C, there is produced the effect of reducing theconnection resistance value by the arrangement that the inorganic filler6 f does not enter the space between the bump 3 and the board electrode5 due to this outward extruding action. At this time, even if a certainamount of inorganic filler 6 f enters the space between the bump 3 andthe board electrode 5, there is no problem by virtue of the arrangementthat the bump 3 is brought in direct contact with the board electrode 5.

At this time, a load to be applied via the IC chip 1 to the bump 3 sidediffers depending on the outside diameter of the bump 3. The headportion 3 a that belongs to the bump 3 and is bent and folded isrequired to receive a load to the extent that the head portion isdeformed without fail as shown in FIG. 41C. This load is required to be20 (gf per bump) at the minimum.

That is, the resistance value becomes excessively increased to aresistance value of 100 mmΩ/bump or higher when the load is smaller than20 (gf per bump) according to the graph of a relation between theresistance value and the load in the case of the bump of an outsidediameter of 80 μm to cause a practical problem, and therefore, a load ofnot smaller than 20 (gf per bump) is preferable, as shown in FIG. 52.FIG. 53 is a graph showing a region of high reliability based on arelation between bumps of outside diameters of 80 μm and 40 μm andminimum loads.

According to this graph, it is presumed that the bump of an outsidediameter of not smaller than 40 μm is preferably loaded with a minimumload of not smaller than 25 (gf per bump) and the reliability is highwhen the minimum load is not smaller than about 20 (gf per bump) in thecase of the bump of an outside diameter smaller than 40 μm. It is alsopresumed that, when the bump outside diameter is reduced to less than 40μm with a reduction in lead pitch in the future, the load tends toreduce in proportion to the second power of the projected area of thebump depending on the projected area of the bump. Therefore, it ispreferable that the minimum load applied to the bump 3 side via the ICchip 1 needs to be preferably 20 (gf per bump) at the minimum. The upperlimit of the load applied to the bump 3 side via the IC chip 1 is set tothe extent that none of the IC chip 1, the bump 3, the circuit board 4,and so on is damaged. According to circumstances, a maximum load maysometimes exceed 150 (gf per bump). It is to be noted that the referencenumeral 6 s in the figure denotes a resin resulting from thethermosetting resin 306 m that has been melted by the heat of thebonding tool 8 and thereafter thermally hardened out of thethermosetting resin sheet 6.

It is also acceptable to perform the process of aligning in position theIC chip 1 on the electrodes 2 of which the bumps 3 have been formedthrough the aforementioned preceding process by the bonding tool 8heated by a built-in heater 8 a such as a ceramic heater or a pulseheater with the electrodes 5 of the board 4 prepared through theaforementioned preceding process so that the electrodes 5 of the board 4correspond to the electrodes 2 of the IC chip 1 as shown in FIG. 38E andthe process of performing pressure bonding as shown in FIG. 38F afterthe positional alignment, by means of one positional alignment andpressure bonding apparatus of, for example, the position aligning andpressure bonding apparatus of FIG. 38E. However, it is also acceptableto perform the positional alignment process and the pressure bondingprocess by separate units of, for example, the positional alignmentdevice of FIG. 42B and the bonding device of FIG. 42C, respectively, inorder to improve the productivity by concurrently performing thepositional alignment work and the pressure bonding work whencontinuously manufacturing, for example, a lot of boards. FIG. 42C showstwo bonding devices 8 provided for the purpose of improving theproductivity, by which two portions of one circuit board 4 can beconcurrently subjected to pressure bonding.

The circuit board 4 is provided by a multilayer ceramic board, FPC, aglass fabric laminate epoxy board (glass epoxy board), a glass fabriclaminate polyimide resin board, an aramid unwoven fabric epoxy board(for example, a resin multilayer board sold with a registered trademarkof “ALIVH” produced by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.), or thelike. These boards 4 do not always have a complete plane since warps andundulations are generated due to thermal history, cutting andprocessing. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 42A and FIG. 42B, by locallyapplying heat and load to the circuit board 4 via the IC chip 1 from thebonding tool 8 side toward the stage 9 side by means of the bonding tool8 and the stage 9 each of which the parallelism is controlled so thatthe parallelism is adjusted to, for example, about 10 μm or less, thewarp of the circuit board 4 in the applied portion is corrected. The ICchip 1 is warped concave about the center of the active surface. Bypressurizing the IC chip with a heavy load of not smaller than 20 gf perbump at the time of bonding, the warps and undulations of both the board4 and the IC chip 1 can be corrected. The warp of the IC chip 1 isgenerated by an internal stress caused when a thin film is formed on Siin forming the IC chip 1. The quantity of deformation of the bump isabout 10 to 25 μm, which becomes tolerated by each bump 3, which adaptsitself with the deformation of the bump 3 to the influence of theundulation that appears on the surface from the inner layer copper foiloriginally owned by the board of this grade.

Thus, a heat of, for example, 140 to 230° C. is applied to thethermosetting resin sheet 6 located between the IC chip 1 and thecircuit board 4 for, for example, about several seconds to 20 seconds ina state in which the warp of the circuit board 4 is corrected, and thisthermosetting resin sheet 6 is hardened. At this time, the thermosettingresin 306 m, which constitutes the thermosetting resin sheet 6, flowsfirst and encapsulates the IC chip 1 up to the edge of IC chip.Moreover, the resin, which is naturally softened at the beginning whenheated, generates a fluidity of a flow to the edge as described above.By making the volume of the thermosetting resin 306 m greater than thevolume of the space between the IC chip 1 and the circuit board 4, theresin flows and leaks out of this space, allowing the encapsulationeffect to be produced. Subsequently, the heated bonding tool 8 is movedup, by which the heating source disappears to rapidly reduce thetemperature of the IC chip 1 and the thermosetting resin sheet 6. Thethermosetting resin sheet 6 looses its fluidity, and as shown in FIG.38F and FIG. 41C, the IC chip 1 is fixed onto the circuit board 4 withthe hardened thermosetting resin 6 s. Moreover, if the circuit board 4side is heated by a heater 9 a of the stage 9 or the like, thetemperature of the bonding tool 8 can further be reduced.

Seventeenth Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component of, forexample, an IC chip on a circuit board and an electronic component unitor module of, for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chipis mounted on the board by the mounting method, according to aseventeenth embodiment of the present invention will be described next.

This seventeenth embodiment is made more preferable than the sixteenthembodiment by setting the ratio of mixture of the inorganic filler 6 fto be mixed with the thermosetting resin sheet 6 to 5 to 90 wt % of theinsulative thermosetting resin of, for example, the insulativethermosetting epoxy resin 306 m. When the ratio is lower than 5 wt %,the mixture of the inorganic filler 6 f is meaningless. When the ratioexceeds 90 wt %, the adhesive strength is extremely reduced, and it isdifficult to form a sheet, leading to a disadvantage. As an example,from the point of view of maintaining high reliability, it is preferableto set the ratio to 20 to 40 wt % in the case of a resin board and to 40to 70 wt % in the case of a ceramic board. In the case of a glass epoxyboard, the coefficient of linear expansion of the sheet encapsulant canbe considerably reduced at a ratio of about 20 wt %, producing an effecton the resin board. The ratio is set about half the percentage by weightin terms of volume percentage or in the proportions of 1 part epoxyresin to 2 parts silica in terms of specific gravity. In the normalcase, the ratio of mixture of this inorganic filler 6 f is determined bythe manufacturing conditions in forming the thermosetting resin 306 minto a sheet, by the elastic modulus of the board 4 and finally by theresult of a reliability test.

By mixing the inorganic filler 6 f at the aforementioned ratio ofmixture with the thermosetting resin sheet 6, the elastic modulus of thethermosetting resin 306 m of the thermosetting resin sheet 6 can beincreased, and the reliability of bonding of the IC chip 1 to the board4 can be improved by reducing the coefficient of thermal expansion.Moreover, the ratio of mixture of the inorganic filler 6 f can bedetermined so that the material constant of the thermosetting resin 306m, i.e., the elastic modulus and the coefficient of linear expansion areoptimized for the material of the board 4. It is to be noted that thecoefficient of linear expansion tends to be reduced although the elasticmodulus is increased as the ratio of mixture of the inorganic filler 6 fis increased.

The sixteenth embodiment and the seventeenth embodiment have theadvantage that the employed thermosetting resin sheet 6, which is notliquid but solid, is easy to handle and is able to be formed of polymersince no liquid component exists, allowing the objective one with a highglass transition point to be easily formed.

With reference to FIG. 38A through FIG. 38G, FIG. 39A through FIG. 39Cand FIG. 43 and FIG. 44 described later, the formation of thethermosetting resin sheet 6 or the thermosetting adhesive 306 b that isone example of the insulating resin layer on the circuit board 4 sidehas been described. However, without being limited to this, the sheet oradhesive may be formed on the IC chip 1 side and thereafter bonded tothe board 4 as shown in FIG. 51A or FIG. 51B. In the case of, inparticular, the thermosetting resin sheet 6, it is acceptable to stickthe thermosetting resin sheet 6 to the IC chip 1 along the configurationof the bumps 3 by pressing the IC chip 1 held by a holding member 200such as a suction nozzle against an elastic body 117 such as rubber on astage 201 together with a separator 6 a removably arranged on thecircuit board side of the thermosetting resin sheet 6.

Eighteenth Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component of, forexample, an IC chip on a circuit board and an electronic component unitor module of, for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chipis mounted on the board by the mounting method, according to aneighteenth embodiment of the present invention will be described nextwith reference to FIG. 43A through FIG. 43C and FIG. 44A through FIG.44F.

According to this eighteenth embodiment, instead of sticking thethermosetting resin sheet 6 to the board 4 as in the sixteenthembodiment, a thermosetting adhesive 306 b that has a liquid form andserves as one example of the insulating resin layer is applied orprinted or transferred onto the circuit board 4 by a dispenser 502 orthe like as shown in FIG. 43A and FIGS. 44A and 44D and thereaftersolidified into a semi-solid state, or the state of the so-called Bstage. Subsequently, the IC chip 1 is mounted on the board 4 similarlyto the first or seventeenth embodiment.

In detail, as shown in FIG. 43A, the thermosetting adhesive 306 b in theliquid form is applied or printed or transferred onto the circuit board4 by the dispenser 502 or the like, which can be moved in two directionsorthogonal on the board surface and the discharge rate of which iscontrolled with an air pressure as shown in FIG. 44A. Next, the adhesiveis solidified into a semi-solid state, or the state of the so-called Bstage as shown in FIG. 43C through uniforming with heat and pressureapplied by a tool 78 that has a built-in heater 78 a as shown in FIG.43B.

Otherwise, in the case where the thermosetting adhesive 306 b in theliquid form has a low viscosity, the liquid thermosetting adhesive 306 bis applied to a specified position on the board 4 by means of thedispenser 502 as shown in FIG. 44A, and thereafter, the thermosettingadhesive 306 b naturally spreads on the board since its viscosity is lowand enters into a state as shown in FIG. 44B. Subsequently, by puttingthe board 4 into a furnace 503 by means of a conveying unit 505 like aconveyer as shown in FIG. 44C and hardening the liquid-formthermosetting adhesive 306 b of the applied insulating resin by a heater504 of the furnace 503, the adhesive is solidified into a semi-solidstate, i.e., the state of the so-called B stage.

In the case where the thermosetting adhesive 306 b in the liquid formhas a high viscosity, the liquid thermosetting adhesive 306 b is appliedto a specified position on the board 4 by means of the dispenser 502 asshown in FIG. 44D, and thereafter, the thermosetting adhesive 306 b isspread flat by a squeegee 506 as shown in FIGS. 44E and 44F since theadhesive does not naturally spread on the board due to the highviscosity of the thermosetting adhesive 306 b. Subsequently, by puttingthe board 4 into the furnace 503 by means of the conveying unit 505 likea conveyer as shown in FIG. 44C and hardening the liquid thermosettingadhesive 306 b of the applied insulating resin by the heater 504 of thefurnace 503, the adhesive is solidified into the semi-solid state, i.e.,the state of the so-called B stage.

As described above, although there is a difference depending on thecharacteristics of the thermosetting resin in the thermosetting adhesive306 b when the thermosetting adhesive 306 b is semi-solidified,pressurization is effected at a temperature of 80 to 130° C., which is30 to 80% of the glass transition point of the thermosetting resin. Thepressurization is normally performed at a temperature of about 30% ofthe glass transition point of the thermosetting resin. The reason whythe temperature is 30 to 80% of the glass-transition point of thethermosetting resin is that a further range for reaction can stillsufficiently be left in the subsequent processes within the range of 80to 130° C. according to the graph of the heating temperature of theresin sheet with respect to the reaction rate of FIG. 54. In otherwords, the reaction rate of the insulating resin, or for example, theepoxy resin can be restrained to about 10 to 50%, also depending ontime, within the temperature range of 80 to 130° C., and therefore, noproblem occurs at the time of IC chip pressure bonding in the subsequentprocesses. That is, the prescribed quantity of pressure can be securedat the time of pressure-bonding the IC chip, and this scarcely incur theproblem that the press-cutting cannot be achieved. It is also possibleto perform the semi-solidification by vaporizing only the solventcomponent while restraining the reaction.

When a plurality of IC chips 1 are mounted on the board 4 after thethermosetting adhesive 306 b is semi-solidified as described above, theproductivity is further improved by preliminarily performing thesemi-solidifying process of the thermosetting adhesive 306 b as apre-arranging process in a plurality of portions which belong to theboard 4 and in which the plurality of IC chips 1 are mounted, supplyingthe thus pre-arranged board 4 and bonding the plurality of IC chips 1 tothe plurality of portions of the supplied board 4. In the subsequentprocesses, even when the thermosetting adhesive 306 b is used, theprocess identical to the process employing the thermosetting resin sheet6 of the aforementioned first or seventeenth embodiment is basicallyperformed. By adding the semi-solidifying process, the liquidthermosetting adhesive 306 b can be employed similarly to thethermosetting resin sheet 6, and this arrangement has the advantage thatthe handling is easy because of the solidness and the advantage that anadhesive having a high glass transition point can be easily formed sinceit can be formed of polymer because of the non-existence of a liquidcomponent. When the thermosetting adhesive 306 b having fluidity isemployed as described above, there is the coexistent advantage that theadhesive can be applied, printed, or transferred in an arbitrary size toarbitrary positions of the board 4 by comparison with the case where thesolid thermosetting resin sheet 6 is employed.

Nineteenth Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component of, forexample, an IC chip on a circuit board and an electronic component unitor module of, for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chipis mounted on the board by the mounting method, according to anineteenth embodiment of the present invention will be described nextwith reference to FIG. 57. The nineteenth embodiment differs from thesixteenth embodiment in that the bump tip is shaped so as to prevent theshort circuit with adjacent bumps or electrodes due to the collapse of aneck (whisker) portion at the tip of the bump 3 caused by thetearing-off at the time of bump formation by pressurizing the bump 3with a load of not greater than 20 gf at need without leveling the bump3 with supersonic waves applied in addition to the load when the IC chip1 is bonded to the board 4, the IC chip 1 is thereafter mounted on theboard 4 while aligning in position the bump 3 with the IC chip 1, andthe metal bump 3 is subjected to thermocompression-bonding withsupersonic waves to the metal of the electrode surface on the boardside. The state in which the IC chip 1 is bonded to the board 4 issimilar to those of FIG. 39 and FIG. 43 of the aforementionedembodiments.

According to this nineteenth embodiment, the solid thermosetting resinsheet 6 or the liquid thermosetting adhesive 306 b semi-solidified asdescribed above, obtained by mixing the insulating thermosetting resin306 m with the inorganic filler 6 f is stuck to the board 4 or thethermosetting adhesive 306 b that contains the thermosetting resin isapplied to the board 4 and semi-solidified. Thereafter, the ball 96 isformed by an electric spark at the tip of the gold wire 95 through theoperation as shown in FIG. 40A through FIG. 40F similarly to the wirebonding with respect to the electrode 5 of the board 4 and the electrode2 of the IC chip 1, and the IC chip 1 is mounted on the board 4 byaligning in position the bump 3, which is formed bythermocompression-bonding this ball 96 to the board electrode 5 withsupersonic waves by means of the capillary 93, with the IC chip 1without leveling the bump 3. In this case, the aforementioned “theliquid thermosetting adhesive 306 b semi-solidified as described above”is the object obtained by semi-solidifying the thermosetting adhesive306 b as described in connection with the eighteenth embodiment, similarto the object put in the B stage. By using this, a material lessexpensive than the sheet encapsulating material or ACF (AnisotropicConductive Film) can be utilized. At this time, in a supersonic waveapplying device 620 as shown in FIG. 57, the gold bumps 3 aremetallically bonded to the gold platings located on the board side whileshaping the tips so as to prevent the collapse of neck portions at thetips of the gold bumps 3 by effecting a load of an air cylinder 625applied from the upper surface of the IC chip 1 sucked and held by thepre-heated bonding tool 628 with a built-in heater 622 and thesupersonic waves that are generated by a supersonic wave generatingelement 623 such as a piezoelectric element and applied via a supersonicwave horn 624. Next, the IC chip 1 is pressed against the circuit board4 with a pressure force of not smaller than 20 gf per bump while heatingthe IC chip 1 from the upper surface side of the IC chip 1 and/or fromthe board side so as to correct the warp of the board 4 and crush thebumps 3, and the thermosetting resin sheet 6 or the thermosettingadhesive 306 b interposed between the IC chip 1 and the circuit board 4is hardened by the heat so as to bond the IC chip 1 to the circuit board4, electrically connecting both the electrodes 2 and 5 together.

The reason why the pressure force of not smaller than 20 gf per bump isneeded is that the bonding cannot be achieved since frictional heatscarcely occurs even by the bonding using supersonic waves as describedabove. Also, when bonding gold to gold together, frictional heat isgenerated by pressing the bump with a specified constant load andapplying supersonic waves to the portion, by which the metals are bondedtogether. Therefore, even in this case, the specified load sufficientfor pressurizing the bump, i.e., the pressure force of not smaller than20 gf per bump is needed. For example, the pressure force is set to 50gf or more per bump.

According to the nineteenth embodiment, the metal bump 3 and the metalplating of the board 4 are subjected to metallic diffusion bonding, andthis arrangement is therefore appropriate for giving a strength to thebump portion or further reducing the connection resistance value.

Twentieth Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component of, forexample, an IC chip on a circuit board and an electronic component unitor module of, for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chipis mounted on the board by the mounting method, according to thetwentieth embodiment of the present invention will be described nextwith reference to FIG. 45A through FIG. 45C and FIG. 46A through FIG.46C. The twentieth embodiment differs from the sixteenth embodiment inthat the encapsulation process can be eliminated.

As described above, the protruding electrode (bump) 3 is preparatorilyformed on the electrode 2 of the IC chip 1. On the circuit board 4, asshown in FIG. 45B, FIG. 45C, FIG. 46A and FIG. 58, a rectangularsheet-shaped thermosetting resin sheet 6 or a thermosetting adhesive 306b that has a configurational dimension smaller than an approximatelyrectangle-shaped outline dimension OL defined by joining the inner edgesof the plurality of electrodes 2 of the IC chip 1 is preparatorily stuckor applied to a center portion of a region defined by joining theelectrodes 5 of the circuit board 4. At this time, the thickness of thesheet-shaped thermosetting resin sheet 6 or the thermosetting adhesive306 b is set so that its volume becomes slightly greater than a gapbetween the IC chip 1 and the board 4. By means of the sticking device640 of FIG. 58, a rectangular sheet-shaped thermosetting resin sheet 656that is rewound from a rewinding roll 644 and wound around a windingroll 643 is cut along portions preliminarily provided with notches 657by upper and lower cutter blades 641 into a configurational dimensionsmaller than the approximately rectangle-shaped outline dimension OLdefined by joining the inner edges of the plurality of electrodes 2 ofthe IC chip 1. The thermosetting resin sheet 6 cut in the rectangularsheet-like shape is sucked and held by a sticking head 642 pre-heated bya built-in heater 646 and stuck to the center portion of the regiondefined by joining the electrodes 5 of the circuit board 4. Next, thebumps 3 and the electrodes 5 of the circuit board 4 are aligned inposition and, as shown in FIG. 45A and FIG. 46B, the IC chip 1 ispressurized with a pressure against the circuit board 4 by the heatingtool 8 heated by the heater 8 a so as to concurrently perform thecorrection of the warp of the board 4 and harden the thermosetting resinsheet 6 or the thermosetting adhesive 306 b interposed between the ICchip 1 and the circuit board 4. At this time, the thermosetting resinsheet 6 or the thermosetting adhesive 306 b is softened as describedhereinabove by the heat applied from the bonding tool 8 via the IC chip1 and flows outward by being pressurized from the position to which ithas been stuck or applied as shown in FIG. 46C. This outflowthermosetting resin sheet 6 or the thermosetting adhesive 306 b becomesan encapsulation material (underfill), which remarkably improves thereliability of the bonding of the bumps 3 to the electrodes 5. After alapse of a specified time, the hardening of the thermosetting resinsheet 6 or the thermosetting adhesive 306 b gradually progresses, andthe hardened resin 6 s finally bonds the IC chip 1 to the circuit board4. By moving up the bonding tool 8 that is pressurizing the IC chip 1,the bonding of the IC chip 1 to the electrodes 5 of the circuit board 4is completed. Strictly speaking, in the case of thermosetting, thereaction of the thermosetting resin progresses during heating, and thefluidity almost disappears with the moving-up motion of the bonding tool8. According to the above-mentioned method, neither the thermosettingresin sheet 6 nor the thermosetting adhesive 306 b covers the electrodes5 before bonding, and therefore, the bumps 3 are brought in directcontact with the electrodes 5 at the time of bonding. Then, neither thethermosetting resin sheet 6 nor the thermosetting adhesive 306 b entersspaces under the electrodes 5, and the value of connection resistancebetween the bump 3 and the electrode 5 can be reduced. If the circuitboard side is heated, then the temperature of the bonding head 8 canfurther be reduced. If this method is applied to the eighteenthembodiment, the bonding of the gold bumps to the gold electrodes (forexample, copper or tungsten plated with nickel or gold) of the circuitboard can easily be achieved.

Twenty-First Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component of, forexample, an IC chip on a circuit board and an electronic component unitor module of, for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chipis mounted on the board by the mounting method, according to atwenty-first embodiment of the present invention will be described nextwith reference to FIG. 47 and FIG. 48. The twenty-first embodimentdiffers from the sixteenth embodiment in that high-reliability bondingcan be achieved even if a bump 103 is mounted on the electrode 5 of thecircuit board 4 while being shifted.

According to the twenty-first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 47A, a goldball 96 is formed of a gold wire 95 by an electric spark similarly tothe wire bonding in forming the bumps 3 on the IC chip 1. Next, a ball96 a of a diameter Φd-Bump denoted by 95 a is formed while adjusting thesize of the ball by the duration of the electric spark, and thethus-formed ball 96 a of the diameter Φd-Bump is formed by controllingthe parameter of time or voltage for generating the electric spark sothat a chamfer diameter φD denoted by 93 a of a capillary 193 whosechamfer angle θc is not greater than 100° becomes one-half tothree-fourths the gold ball diameter d-Bump.

Instead of forming a bump 3 as shown in FIG. 47D with the provision of aflat portion 93 b in the portion to be brought in contact with the goldball of the capillary 93 as shown in FIG. 47C, a bump 103 as shown inFIG. 47B is formed on the electrode 2 of the IC chip 1 by supersonicwave thermocompression-bonding by means of a capillary 193 whose tipshape has a tip portion 193 a provided with no flat portion in theportion to be brought in contact with the gold ball 96 a of thecapillary 193 as shown in FIG. 47A. By using the capillary 193 havingthe above-mentioned tip shape, an approximately conically tipped bump103 as shown in FIG. 47B can be formed on the electrode 2 of the IC chip1. Even when the approximately conically tipped bump 103 formed by theabove-mentioned method is mounted on the electrode 5 of the circuitboard 4 while being shifted as shown in FIG. 48C, the bump 103 can bepartially brought in contact with the electrode 5 of the board 4 withoutfail since the bump 103 has the approximately conically shaped tip solong as the shift is not greater than half the outside diameter of thebump 103.

In contrast to this, in the case of a bump 3 as shown in FIG. 48D, whenthe bumps 3 are mounted on the electrodes 5 of the circuit board 4 whilebeing shifted by a dimension Z as shown in FIG. 48C, the so-called base3 g of a width dimension d partially comes in contact with the electrode5 as shown in FIG. 48E. However, this contact is mere partial contact,leading to bonding in an unstable contact state. If the board 4 issubjected to a thermal shock test or reflow in the above unstablebonding state, then the bonding in the unstable bonding state may resultin becoming open, that is, defective bonding. In contrast to this,according to the twenty-first embodiment, even when the approximatelyconically tipped bump 103 is mounted on the electrode 5 of the circuitboard 4 while being shifted by the dimension Z as shown in FIG. 48C, thebump 103 can partially come in contact with the electrode 5 of the board4 without fail so long as the shift is not greater than half the outsidediameter of the bump 103 since the bump 103 has the conical tip shape,and this can prevent the possible occurrence of the defective bondingeven when the board is subjected to the thermal shock test or reflow.

Twenty-Second Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component of, forexample, an IC chip on a circuit board and an electronic component unitor module of, for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chipis mounted on the board by the mounting method, according to atwenty-second embodiment of the present invention will be described nextwith reference to FIG. 49 and FIG. 50. According to this twenty-secondembodiment, the stress of the IC chip 1 and the circuit board 4 in thesixteenth embodiment can be alleviated when the thermosetting resin ishardened after the bonding of the IC chip 1 to the circuit board 4.

In the twenty-second embodiment, the bumps 3 formed on the electrodes 2of the IC chip 1 by the wire bonding are aligned in position with theelectrodes 5 of the circuit board 4 without leveling the bumps withinterposition of a solid or semi-solid thermosetting resin sheet 6 orthe thermosetting adhesive 306 b obtained by mixing an insulating resin306 m with an inorganic filler 6 f. The IC chip 1 is pressed against thecircuit board 4 with a pressure force P1 of not smaller than 80 gf perbump in the case of a ceramic board while heating the IC chip 1 from itsrear surface side by the tool 8 heated to a specified temperature of,for example, 230° C. to correct the warp of the board 4, and thethermosetting resin sheet 6 or the thermosetting adhesive 306 binterposed between the IC chip 1 and the circuit board 4 is hardened bythe heat. Next, assuming that the total time is, for example, 20seconds, then, after a lapse of a specified time t1, i.e., after a lapseof five to 10 seconds being one-fourth or one-half the time, alsodepending on the reaction rate of the material, or in other words,before the reaction rate of the material reaches 90%, the pressure isreduced to a pressure P2 lower than the pressure P1 to alleviate thestress when the thermosetting adhesive 306 b is hardened, and the ICchip 1 and the circuit board 4 are bonded together to electricallyconnect both the electrodes 2 and 5. Preferably, by setting the pressureP1 to 20 gf or more per bump for the reason that a minimum of about 20gf is required for the deformation of the bump, i.e., in order to obtainthe pressure required for the deformation and adaptation of the bump andforce out the excessive resin from between the IC chip 1 and the board 4and setting the pressure P2 less than 20 gf per bump in order to removethe hardening distortion unevenly distributed inside the ratio beforethe deformation or the like of the bump, the reliability is improved.The detailed reasons are as follows. That is, the stress distribution ofthe thermosetting resin in the thermosetting resin sheet 6 or thethermosetting adhesive 306 b is increased on the IC chip 1 side and theboard 4 side at the time of pressure bonding as shown in FIG. 49C.

In this state kept intact, if fatigue is repetitively given through areliability test and normal long-term use, then the thermosetting resinin the thermosetting resin sheet 6 or the thermosetting adhesive 306 bsometimes unable to endure the stress and may separate on the IC chip 1side or the board 4 side. If the above state occurs, then the adhesivestrength of the IC chip 1 and the circuit board 4 becomes insufficientand the bonded portion becomes open. Accordingly, by adopting a two-steppressure profile of the higher pressure P1 and the lower pressure P2 asshown in FIG. 50, the pressure can be reduced to the pressure P2 lowerthan the pressure P1 when the thermosetting adhesive 306 b is hardened,and the stress of the IC chip 1 and the circuit board 4 can bealleviated (in other words, the degree of stress concentration can bereduced) as shown in FIG. 49D by removing the hardening distortionunevenly distributed inside the resin with the pressure P2.Subsequently, by increasing the pressure to the pressure P1, a pressurerequired for the deformation and adaptation of the bump can be obtainedand the excessive resin can be forced out of the space between the ICchip 1 and the board 4, improving the reliability.

It is to be noted that the aforementioned “adhesive strength of the ICchip 1 and the circuit board 4” means a force to make the IC chip 1 andthe board 4 adhere to each other. With this regard, the IC chip 1 andthe board 4 are bonded together by the three forces of an adhesivestrength provided by the adhesive, a hardening shrinkage force when theadhesive is hardened, and a shrinkage force (for example, a shrinkageforce generated when the adhesive heated to a temperature of, forexample, 180° C. shrinks when returning to the normal temperature) inthe Z-direction.

Twenty-Third Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component of, forexample, an IC chip on a circuit board and an electronic component unitor module of, for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chipis mounted on the board by the mounting method, according to atwenty-third embodiment of the present invention will be described nextwith reference to FIG. 49 and FIG. 50. According to this twenty-thirdembodiment, the inorganic filler 6 f mixed with the insulating resin 306m in each of the aforementioned embodiments has a mean particle diameterof not smaller than 3 μm. It is to be noted that the maximum meanparticle diameter of the inorganic filler 6 f is assumed to have adimension that does not exceed the gap dimension between the IC chip 1and the board 4 after bonding.

If fine particles having a mean particle diameter smaller than 3 μm areused as the inorganic filler 6 f when the insulating resin 306 m ismixed with the inorganic filler 6 f, then the surface area of thoseparticles becomes large as a whole, and this possibly leads to moistureabsorption to the periphery of the inorganic filler 6 f of the fineparticles that have a mean particle diameter smaller than 3 μm, which isdisadvantageous in terms of the bonding of the IC chip 1 to the board 4.

Therefore, when the inorganic filler 6 f of the same weight is mixed,the amount of moisture absorption to the periphery of the inorganicfiller 6 f can be reduced by employing a larger inorganic filler 6 fthat has a mean particle diameter of not smaller than 3 μm, and thisallows the moisture resistance to be improved. Moreover, the inorganicfiller of a larger mean particle diameter (in other words, average grainsize) is generally less expensive, and this is preferable in terms ofcost. As shown in FIG. 59A, according to the processing method thatemploys the ACF (Anisotropic Conductive Film) 598 for the bonding of theIC chip 1 to the board 4, it is required to place conductive particles599 in the ACF 598 between the bump 3 and the board electrode 5 withoutfail. However, since no conductive particle exists in the aforementionedembodiment of the present invention, there is no need for doing so. Asshown in FIG. 59B, the bump 3 is pressure-bonded to the board electrode5 while being crushed by the electrode 5, and therefore, the inorganicfiller 6 f also slips out of the space between the bump 3 and the boardelectrode 4 together with the insulating resin layers 6 and 306 bbetween the bump 3 and the board electrode 4. On the basis of thefeature that there is almost no hindrance of conductivity by virtue ofthe placement of the unnecessary inorganic filler 6 f between the boardelectrode 4 and the bump 3, an inorganic filler 6 f of a large meanparticle diameter of not smaller than 3 μm can be employed.

Twenty-Fourth Embodiment

A method and apparatus for mounting an electronic component of, forexample, an IC chip on a circuit board and an electronic component unitor module of, for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chipis mounted on the board by the mounting method, according to atwenty-fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described nextwith reference to FIG. 60 and FIG. 26. FIG. 60 and FIG. 26 are aschematic sectional view of a bonded state produced by the method andapparatus for mounting an electronic component of, for example, an ICchip on a circuit board and a partially enlarged schematic sectionalview of a resin sheet 6 employed in the above case, according to thetwenty-fourth embodiment. According to this twenty-fourth embodiment,the inorganic filler 6 f to be mixed with the insulating resin 306 m ofthe insulating resin layers 6 and 306 b in each of the aforementionedembodiments is provided by inorganic fillers 6 f-1 and 6 f-2, which havea plurality of different mean particle diameters. As a concrete example,an inorganic filler having a mean particle diameter of 0.5 μm and aninorganic filler having a mean particle diameter of 2 to 4 μm areemployed.

According to the twenty-fourth embodiment, by mixing the insulatingresin 306 m with the inorganic fillers 6 f-1 and 6 f-2, which have theplurality of different mean particle diameters, the amount of theinorganic filler 6 f to be mixed with the insulating resin 306 m can beincreased, and the amount of moisture absorption to the periphery of theinorganic filler can be reduced. This enables the improvement in themoisture resistance and facilitates the film formation (solidification).That is, in terms of percentage by weight, the amount of the inorganicfiller per unit volume can be increased when inorganic fillers ofdifferent particle diameters are mixed rather than when one type ofinorganic filler is employed. This enables the increase in amount of theinorganic filler 6 f to be mixed with the resin sheet 6 or the adhesive306 b that serves as an encapsulation sheet and enables the reduction inthe coefficient of linear expansion of the resin sheet 6 or the adhesive306 b, allowing the operating life to be increased for the improvementof reliability.

Twenty-Fifth Embodiment

Next, according to a method and apparatus for mounting an electroniccomponent of, for example, an IC chip on a circuit board and anelectronic component unit or module of, for example, a semiconductordevice in which the IC chip is mounted on the board by the mountingmethod, according to a twenty-fifth embodiment of the present invention,in order to further ensure the effect of the twenty-fourth embodiment,the mean particle diameter of one inorganic filler 6 f-1 of theinorganic fillers 6 f-1 and 6 f-2, which have the plurality of differentmean particle diameters, is two or more times different from the meanparticle diameter of the other inorganic filler 6 f-2. As a concreteexample, an inorganic filler having a mean particle diameter of 0.5 μmand an inorganic filler having a mean particle diameter of 2 to 4 μm areemployed.

With this arrangement, the effect of the twenty-fourth embodiment canfurther be improved. That is, by mixing the insulating resin 306 m withthe inorganic fillers 6 f-1 and 6 f-2, which have the plurality ofdifferent mean particle diameters and in which the mean particlediameter of one inorganic filler 6 f-1 is two or more times differentfrom the mean particle diameter of the other inorganic filler 6 f-2, theamount of the inorganic filler 6 f to be mixed with the insulating resin306 m can be more reliably increased. This arrangement facilitates thefilm formation (solidification), increases the loadings of the inorganicfiller 6 f in the resin sheet 6 or the adhesive 306 b and enables thefurther reduction in the coefficient of linear expansion of the resinsheet 6 or the adhesive 306 b, allowing the operating life to beincreased for further improvement of reliability.

Twenty-Sixth Embodiment

Next, according to a method and apparatus for mounting an electroniccomponent of, for example, an IC chip on a circuit board and anelectronic component unit or module of, for example, a semiconductordevice in which the IC chip is mounted on the board by the mountingmethod, according to a twenty-sixth embodiment of the present invention,in order to further ensure the effect of the twenty-fourth embodiment,it is preferable to provide the inorganic filler 6 f to be mixed withthe insulating resin 306 m by at least two types of inorganic fillers 6f-1 and 6 f-2, which have a plurality of different mean particlediameters, make one inorganic filler 6 f-1 out of at least two types ofinorganic fillers have a mean particle diameter exceeding 3 μm and makethe other inorganic filler 6 f-2 out of at least two types of inorganicfillers have a mean particle diameter of not greater than 3 μm. As aconcrete example, an inorganic filler having a mean particle diameter of0.5 μm and an inorganic filler having a mean particle diameter of 2 to 4μm are employed.

Twenty-Seventh Embodiment

Next, according to a method and apparatus for mounting an electroniccomponent of, for example, an IC chip on a circuit board and anelectronic component unit or module of, for example, a semiconductordevice in which the IC chip is mounted on the board by the mountingmethod, according to a twenty-seventh embodiment of the presentinvention, based on each of the aforementioned embodiments, it isacceptable to provide the inorganic filler 6 f to be mixed with theinsulating resin 306 m by at least two types of inorganic fillers 6 f-1and 6 f-2, which have a plurality of different mean particle diameters,and constitute one inorganic filler 6 f-1 of the larger mean particlediameter out of at least two types of inorganic fillers by a materialidentical to that of the insulating resin 306 m, producing a stressalleviating effect. As a concrete example, an inorganic filler having amean particle diameter of 0.5 μm and an inorganic filler having a meanparticle diameter of 2 to 4 μm are employed.

According to this twenty-seventh embodiment, the stress alleviatingeffect can be produced in addition to the operative effect of thetwenty-fourth embodiment by virtue of the arrangement that the oneinorganic filler 6 f-1 of the larger mean particle diameter is made ofthe material identical to that of the insulating resin 306 m and theintegration of the one inorganic filler 6 f-1 of the larger meanparticle diameter with the insulating resin 306 m when a stress isexerted on the insulating resin 306 m.

Twenty-Eighth Embodiment

Next, according to a method and apparatus for mounting an electroniccomponent of, for example, an IC chip on a circuit board and anelectronic component unit or module of, for example, a semiconductordevice in which the IC chip is mounted on the board by the mountingmethod, according to a twenty-eighth embodiment of the presentinvention, based on each of the aforementioned embodiments, it isacceptable to provide the inorganic filler 6 f to be mixed with theinsulating resin 306 m by at least two types of inorganic fillers 6 f-1and 6 f-2, which have a plurality of different mean particle diameters,and make one inorganic filler 6 f-1 of the larger mean particle diameterout of at least two types of inorganic fillers softer than the epoxyresin of the insulating resin 306 m, producing a stress alleviatingeffect by the compression of the one inorganic filler 6 f-1.

According to this twenty-eighth embodiment, the stress alleviatingeffect can be produced in addition to the operative effect of thetwenty-fourth embodiment by virtue of the arrangement that the oneinorganic filler 6 f-1 of the larger mean particle diameter is made ofthe material identical to that of the insulating resin 306 m and thearrangement that the one inorganic filler 6 f-1 of the larger meanparticle diameter is softer than the epoxy resin of the insulating resin306 m, as a consequence of which the one inorganic filler 6 f-1 iscompressed as shown in FIG. 62 to disperse the tension force of areactive force against the compression around there when a stress isexerted on the insulating resin 306 m.

Twenty-Ninth Embodiment

Next, according to a method and apparatus for mounting an electroniccomponent of, for example, an IC chip on a circuit board and anelectronic component unit or module of, for example, a semiconductordevice in which the IC chip is mounted on the board by the mountingmethod, according to a twenty-ninth embodiment of the present invention,based on each of the aforementioned embodiments, it is furtheracceptable to mix a portion 700 or a layer 6 x, which belongs to theinsulating resin layers 6 and 306 b and is brought in contact with theIC chip 1 or the board 4, with a smaller amount of inorganic filler thananother portion 701 or a layer 6 y or with no inorganic filler 6 f, asshown in FIGS. 63A and 63B, FIGS. 64A and 64B, FIG. 65 and FIG. 66. Inthis case, it is acceptable to gradually vary the amount of inorganicfiller without definitely distinguishing the portion 700 brought incontact with the IC chip 1 or the board 4 from the other portion 701 asshown in FIGS. 63A and 63B or to definitely distinguish them from eachother as shown in FIGS. 64A and 64B, FIG. 65 and FIG. 66. That is, inFIGS. 64A and 64B, FIG. 65 and FIG. 66, the insulating resin layers 6and 306 b are allowed to have a multilayer structure provided with afirst resin layer 6 x that is positioned in the portion brought incontact with the IC chip 1 or the board 4 and in which an insulatingresin identical to the insulating resin 306 m is mixed with theinorganic filler 6 f as well as a second resin layer 6 y brought incontact with the first resin layer 6 x and constructed of the insulatingresin mixed with a smaller amount of inorganic filler than the firstresin layer 6 x or with no inorganic filler 6 f.

With this arrangement, the following effects can be produced. That is,if the inorganic filler 6 f is mixed by the same weight percentage (wt%) with the whole body of the insulating resin layer, then the inorganicfiller 6 f might increase on the IC chip side or the board side or inthe vicinity of the opposite surfaces of both of them and converselydecreases in a portion located in the middle of the IC chip 1 and theboard 4. As a result, there is a greater amount of inorganic filler 6 fon the IC chip side or the board side or in the vicinity of the oppositesurfaces of both of them, and therefore, the adhesive strength issometimes reduced between the insulating resin layers 6 and 306 b andthe IC chip 1 or the board 4 or both of them. According to thetwenty-ninth embodiment, with the arrangement that the portion 700 orthe layer 6 x brought in contact with either one of the IC chip 1 andthe board 4 is mixed with a smaller amount of inorganic filler than theother portion 701 or the layer 6 y or with no inorganic filler 6 f, thereduction in the adhesive strength due to the large amount of inorganicfiller can be prevented.

A variety of modification examples of this twenty-ninth embodiment willbe described below.

First, as a first modification example, as shown in FIG. 63C, FIG. 64Cand FIG. 67A, the insulating resin layers 6 and 306 b can be constructedso that the portion 700 brought in contact with both the IC chip 1 andthe board 4 is mixed with a smaller amount of inorganic filler than theother portion 701 or with no inorganic filler 6 f. Also, in this case,it is acceptable to gradually vary the amount of inorganic fillerwithout definitely distinguishing the portion 700 brought in contactwith both the IC chip 1 and the board 4 from the other portion 701 asshown in FIG. 63C or to definitely distinguish them from each other asshown in FIG. 64C and FIG. 67A. That is, in FIG. 64C and FIG. 67A, it isacceptable to make the insulating resin layers 6 and 306 b have amultilayer structure further provided with a third resin layer 6 z thatis located on the opposite side of the first resin layer 6 x withrespect to the second resin layer 6 y and is constructed of theinsulating resin mixed with a smaller amount of inorganic filler thanthe first resin layer 6 x or no inorganic filler 6 f and bring the firstresin layer 6 x and the third resin layer 6 z in contact with the ICchip 1 and the board 4, respectively.

Furthermore, as another modification example, it is acceptable to mixthe portion 700 brought in contact with the IC chip 1 or the board 4 orboth of them with the inorganic filler by less than 20 wt % or with noinorganic filler 6 f and mix the other portion 701 with the inorganicfiller by not less than 20 wt %. In this case, it is acceptable togradually vary the amount of inorganic filler without definitelydistinguishing the portion 700 brought in contact with the IC chip 1 orthe board 4 or both of them from the other portion 701 as shown in FIGS.63A, 63B and 63C or to definitely distinguish them from each other asshown in FIGS. 64A, 64B and 64C, FIG. 65, FIG. 66 and FIG. 67A. That is,it is possible to mix the first resin layer 6 x or the first resin layer6 x and the third resin layer 6 z with the inorganic filler by less than20 wt % or with no inorganic filler 6 f and mix the second resin layer 6y with the inorganic filler by not less than 20 wt %.

As a concrete example, assuming that the insulating resin 306 m isprovided by thermosetting epoxy resin, then the second resin layer 6 yoccupies 50 wt % in the case of a ceramic board or 20 wt % in the caseof a glass epoxy board. As an example, the first resin layer 6 x or thethird resin layer 6 z or both of them are made to have a thickness of 15μm, while the second resin layer 6 y is made to have a thickness of 40to 60 μm. The thickness of the insulating resin layers 6 and 306 b ismade to have a dimension larger than the gap dimension obtained afterthe bonding of the IC chip 1 to the board 4, so that the space betweenthe IC chip 1 and the board 4 is completely filled with the layer at thetime of bonding of the IC chip 1 to the board 4, further ensuring theconnection.

As another modification example, it is acceptable to reverse theloadings of the inorganic filler with respect to the modificationexample shown in FIG. 63C, FIG. 64C and FIG. 67A. That is, as shown inFIG. 63D, it is acceptable that a middle portion 702 of the portion 703that belongs to the insulating resin layers 6 and 306 b and is broughtin contact with both the IC chip 1 and the board 4 is mixed with asmaller amount of inorganic filler than the portion 703 brought incontact with both the IC chip 1 and the board 4 or with no inorganicfiller 6 f. Also in this case, it is acceptable to gradually vary theamount of inorganic filler without definitely distinguishing the portion703 brought in contact with both the IC chip 1 and the board 4 from themiddle portion 702 or to definitely distinguish them from each other asshown in FIG. 64D and FIG. 67B. That is, as shown in FIG. 64D and FIG.67B, the insulating resin layers 6 and 306 b can be provided with afourth resin layer 6 v constructed of the insulating resin 306 m that ispositioned in the portion brought in contact with the IC chip 1 and theboard 4 and mixed with the inorganic filler 6 f and a fifth resin layer6 w constructed of the insulating resin 306 m that is positioned in themiddle portion between the IC chip 1 and the board 4 and mixed with asmaller amount of inorganic filler than the fourth resin layer 6 v orwith no inorganic filler.

With this arrangement, the middle portion 702 located between the ICchip 1 and the board 4 or the fifth resin layer 6 w is mixed with asmaller amount of inorganic filler than that of the portion 703 or thefourth resin layer 6 v brought in contact with the IC chip 1 and theboard 4 or with no inorganic filler, and therefore, the elastic modulusis reduced, allowing the stress alleviation effect to be produced. Byselectively employing an insulating resin of high adhesion to the ICchip 1 and the board 4 as the insulating resin of the portion 703 or thefourth resin layer 6 v brought in contact with the IC chip 1 and theboard 4, it is allowed to select the loadings or material of theinorganic filler 6 f so that the portion 703 brought in contact with theIC chip 1 or the fourth resin layer 6 v located in the vicinity of theIC chip 1 comes to have a coefficient of linear expansion closer to thatof the IC chip 1 and select the loadings or material of the inorganicfiller 6 f so that the portion 703 brought in contact with the board 4or the fourth resin layer 6 v located in the vicinity of the board 4comes to have a coefficient of linear expansion closer to that of theboard 4. As a result, the coefficient of linear expansion of the portion703 brought in contact with the IC chip 1 or the fourth resin layer 6 vlocated in the vicinity of the IC chip 1 comes close to that of the ICchip 1. Therefore, both the members are hard to separate, and since thecoefficient of linear expansion of the portion 703 brought in contactwith the board 4 or the fourth resin layer 6 v located in the vicinityof the board 4 comes close to that of the board 4, both the members arehard to separate.

Furthermore, as indicated by the solid lines in FIGS. 68A and 68B, theinsulating resin layers 6 and 306 b can also be constructed so that theamount of the inorganic filler is reduced gradually or in steps from theportion P1 brought in contact with either the IC chip 1 or the board 4toward the other portion P2.

As indicated by the solid lines in FIGS. 68C and 68D, the insulatingresin layers 6 and 306 b can also be constructed so that the amount ofthe inorganic filler is reduced gradually or in steps from portions P3and P4 brought in contact with the IC chip 1 and the board 4,respectively, toward another portion, i.e., a middle portion P5 locatedbetween the IC chip 1 and the board 4.

As indicated by the solid line in FIG. 68E, the insulating resin layers6 and 306 b can also be constructed so that the amount of the inorganicfiller is gradually reduced from a portion brought in contact with theIC chip 1 and the board 4 (portion corresponding to the contact portion703 in the modification example of FIG. 63D) toward a middle portion(portion corresponding to the middle portion 702 in the modificationexample of FIG. 63D) located between the IC chip 1 and the board 4.

As indicated by the solid line in FIG. 68F, the insulating resin layers6 and 306 b can also be constructed so that the amount of the inorganicfiller is mixed less in the order of a portion located in the vicinityof the IC chip 1, a portion located in the vicinity of the board 4, anda middle portion located between the vicinity of the IC chip 1 and thevicinity of the board 4. Although the amount of the inorganic filler isgradually reduced in the above-mentioned order as shown by example inFIG. 68F, without being limited to this, the amount may be reduced insteps.

With the arrangements of the modification examples of FIGS. 68E and 68F,the middle portion located between the IC chip 1 and the board 4 ismixed with a smaller amount of inorganic filler than that of theportions brought in contact with the IC chip 1 and the board 4 or withno inorganic filler. Therefore, the elastic modulus becomes reduced,allowing the stress alleviation effect to be produced. By selectivelyemploying an insulating resin of high adhesion to the IC chip 1 and theboard 4 as the insulating resin of the portion brought in contact withthe IC chip 1 and the board 4, it is allowed to select the loadings ormaterial of the inorganic filler 6 f so that the portion brought incontact with the IC chip 1 comes to have a coefficient of linearexpansion closer to that of the IC chip 1 and select the loadings ormaterial of the inorganic filler 6 f so that the portion brought incontact with the board 4 comes to have a coefficient of linear expansioncloser to that of the board 4. If the loadings of the inorganic filler 6f is determined from this point of view, then, as indicated by the solidline in FIG. 68F, the amount of the inorganic filler is mixed less inthe order of a portion located in the vicinity of the IC chip 1, aportion located in the vicinity of the board 4, and a middle portionlocated between the vicinity of the IC chip 1 and the vicinity of theboard 4. With this construction, the coefficient of linear expansion ofthe portion brought in contact with the IC chip 1 comes close to that ofthe IC chip 1. Therefore, both the members are hard to separate, andsince the coefficient of linear expansion of the portion brought incontact with the board 4 comes close to that of the board 4, both themembers are hard to separate.

In any one of the cases of FIGS. 68A through 68F, it is practicallypreferable to set the amount of the inorganic filler within a range of 5to 90 wt %. When the ratio is lower than 5 wt %, the mixture of theinorganic filler 6 f is meaningless. When the ratio exceeds 90 wt %, theadhesive strength is extremely reduced, and it is difficult to form asheet, leading to a disadvantage.

When the IC chip 1 is thermocompression-bonded to the board 4 employinga film of a multilayer structure constructed of a plurality of resinlayers 6 x and 6 y or resin layers 6 x, 6 y and 6 z as described aboveas an insulating resin layer, the insulating resin 306 m is softened andmelted by heat at the time of bonding, causing the mixture of the resinlayers. Therefore, finally, the definite boundaries between the resinlayers disappear, and the inclined inorganic filler distributions asshown in FIG. 68 result.

Furthermore, in the twenty-ninth embodiment or the modificationexamples, it is also possible to employ different insulating resins forinsulating resin layer that has a portion or layer including theinorganic filler 6 f or the insulating resin layer in which theinorganic filler distribution is inclined, according to the portion orthe resin layer. For example, it is also possible to employ aninsulating resin that improves the adhesion to the film material to beused on the IC chip surface for the portion or the resin layer broughtin contact with the IC chip 1 and employ an insulating resin thatimproves the adhesion to the material of the board surface for theportion or the resin layer brought in contact with the board 4.

According to the twenty-ninth embodiment and the various modificationexamples thereof, no or a smaller amount of inorganic filler 6 f existsin the bonding interface of the IC chip 1 or the board 4 and theinsulating resin layers 6 and 306 b, and the innate adhesion of theinsulating resin is effected. This increases the insulating resin ofhigh adhesion in the bonding interface, allowing the adhesion strengthof the IC chip 1 or the board 4 and the insulating resin 306 m andimproving the adhesion to the IC chip 1 or the board 4. With thisarrangement, the operating life is improved during a variety ofreliability tests, and the peel strength to bending is improved.

If an inorganic filler 6 f, which does not contribute to the bondingitself but has the effect of reducing the coefficient of linearexpansion, is uniformly distributed in the insulating resin 306 m, thenthe inorganic filler 6 f comes in contact with the surface of the board4 or the IC chip 1. This leads to a reduction in the amount of adhesivecontributing to the bonding and to degraded adhesion. If the separationbetween the IC chip 1 or the board 4 and the adhesive occurs, moistureenters the portion, causing the corrosion of the electrode of IC chip 1or the like. If the separation progresses from the separated portion,then the very bonding of the IC chip 1 to the board 4 becomes defective,causing a defective electrical connection.

In contrast to this, according to the twenty-ninth embodiment and thevarious modification examples thereof as described above, the adhesivestrength can be improved with the effect of reducing the coefficient oflinear expansion by the inorganic filler 6 f kept provided. Thisimproves the adhesion strength to the IC chip 1 and the board 4 andimproves the reliability.

Furthermore, when the portion 700 or the resin layer 6 x that has asmall amount of inorganic filler 6 f is arranged on the IC chip side orwhen the inorganic filler distribution is reduced on the IC chip side,the portion 700 or the resin layer 6 x is able to have an improvedadhesive strength to the passivation film made of silicon nitride orsilicon oxide on the IC chip surface. It is also possible to properlyselect and employ an insulating resin that improves adhesion to the filmmaterial used on the IC chip surface. Moreover, by reducing the elasticmodulus in the vicinity of the IC chip, the stress concentration in theencapsulating sheet material, which is one example of the insulatingresin layer, is alleviated. If such a structure is adopted when thematerial used for the board 4 is as hard as ceramic (with high elasticmodulus), then there is advantageously provided matching with theencapsulating sheet material in the vicinity of the board in terms ofelastic modulus and the coefficient of linear expansion.

In the case where the portion 700 or the resin layer 6 x having a smallamount of inorganic filler 6 f is arranged on the board side or in thecase where the inorganic filler distribution is reduced on the boardside, if a bending stress is applied when the board 4 is assembled intothe casing of electric equipment when a bending force is applied to theboard 4 as in the case of a resin board or a flexible board (FPC), thenthe portion or layer can be used for the purpose of improving theadhesion strength exerted between the board 4 and the encapsulatingsheet that serves as an example of the insulating resin layer. In thecase where the surface layer on the IC chip side is constructed of aprotecting film formed of a polyimide film, the elastic modulus and thecoefficient of linear expansion vary in steps from the IC chip 1 to theboard 4 when the adhesion of the insulating resin is generallysatisfactory and has no problem, allowing the encapsulating sheet to bemade of a hard material on the IC chip side and of a soft material onthe board side. With this arrangement, the stress generation inside theencapsulating sheet is reduced, and therefore, the reliability isimproved.

Furthermore, in the case where the portion 700 or the resin layers 6 xand 6 z having a small amount of inorganic filler 6 f are arranged onboth the IC chip side and the board side or in the case where theinorganic filler distribution is reduced on both the IC chip side andthe board side, a compatibility is assured on both the IC chip side caseand the board side case. This enables the improvement in adhesion onboth the IC chip side and the board side and the connection of both theIC chip 1 and the board 4 with high reliability with a reducedcoefficient of linear expansion. Moreover, it is allowed to select andemploy an insulating resin of excellent adhesion and resin wettabilityaccording to the material of the surface on the IC chip side and theboard material. Moreover, the inclination of the loadings of theinorganic filler 6 f can be freely changed, and therefore, it ispossible to provide matching with the board material by extremelyreducing the thickness of the portion or layer that has a small amountof inorganic filler 6 f or taking similar measures.

Thirtieth Embodiment

According to a thirtieth embodiment of the present invention, a processfor producing an insulating resin layer to be used for the method andapparatus for mounting an electronic component of, for example, an ICchip on a circuit board and an electronic component unit or module of,for example, a semiconductor device in which the IC chip is mounted onthe board by the mounting method according to the eighth throughfourteenth embodiments and the modification examples thereof will bedescribed next with reference to FIG. 67 and FIG. 70.

First of all, when forming an insulating resin layer directly on thecircuit board 4, a first resin sheet is stuck onto the circuit board 4,and a second resin sheet is stuck onto the first resin sheet. When thereis a great amount of inorganic filler 6 f in the first resin sheet atthis time, there is the result as shown in FIG. 63A or FIG. 65. In theconverse case, there is the result as shown in FIG. 63B or FIG. 66. Thatis, in the former case, the first resin sheet is a resin sheetcorresponding to the portion 701 or the second resin layer 6 y that hasa great amount of inorganic filler 6 f. In the latter case, the sheet isa resin sheet corresponding to the portion 700 or the first resin layer6 x that has a small amount of inorganic filler 6 f.

When a third resin sheet is further formed on the second resin sheettogether with the first resin sheet and the third resin sheetcorresponding to the portion 700 or the first resin layer 6 x that has asmall amount of inorganic filler 6 f, there is the result as shown inFIG. 63C or FIG. 67A.

It is also acceptable to preliminarily form a first resin sheet 673 anda second resin sheet 674 on a base film 672 that is called a separatorin this order (only this case is shown in FIG. 69 and FIG. 70) orreversely or together with a third resin sheet stuck, as shown in FIG.69 and FIG. 70. In this case, as shown in FIG. 69 and FIG. 70, theplurality of resin sheets 673 and 674 are stuck by heating at need bymeans of a vertical pair of heatable rollers 670 and 270 as shown inFIG. 69 and FIG. 70. Subsequently, by cutting the formed resin sheetbody 671 every prescribed dimension, there is the insulating resin sheet6 as shown in any one of FIGS. 63A through 63C, FIGS. 64A through 64Cand FIGS. 65 through 32.

When producing an insulating resin sheet body of the continuousinsulating resin sheets 6 as another modification example, epoxy andinorganic fillers dissolved in a solvent are applied to a base filmcalled a separator by the doctor blade method or the like. This solventis dried to produce the insulating resin sheet body.

At this time, a liquid insulating resin in which the density of theinorganic filler 6 f is low or no inorganic filler 6 f is contained isonce applied as a first layer to the base film, and according tocircumstances, the applied first layer is dried. When the layer is notdried, a certain amount of the inorganic filler 6 f of the second layeris mixed with the first layer, providing a structure in which theinorganic filler distribution is inclined as shown in FIG. 68.

A liquid insulating resin mixed with a greater amount of inorganicfiller 6 f than that of the first layer is applied as a second layeronto the first layer formed that has been applied and formed. By dryingthe second layer, there is formed an insulating resin sheet body of atwo-layer structure in which the first layer and the second layer areformed on the base film. By cutting the insulating resin sheet bodyevery specified dimension, there is an insulating resin sheet 6 as shownin FIG. 63A, FIG. 64A and FIG. 65.

When the layer that has a small amount of inorganic filler 6 f isarranged on the board side, the insulating resin sheet body of atwo-layer structure can be formed by a process reverse to the above,i.e., by forming the second layer on the base film and thereafterforming the first layer on the second layer. By cutting the insulatingresin sheet body every specified dimension, there is an insulating resinsheet 6 as shown in FIG. 63B, FIG. 64B and FIG. 66.

The insulating resin 306 m in which the density of the inorganic filler6 f is low or no inorganic filler 6 f is contained is once applied anddried (sometimes omitted), and an insulating resin mixed with a greateramount of the inorganic filler 6 f than that of the first layer isapplied onto the first layer and dried (sometimes omitted). The thirdlayer in which the amount of the inorganic filler is smaller than thatof the second layer or no inorganic filler 6 f is contained is appliedonto the layer. By drying this, there can be formed an insulating resinsheet body of a three-layer structure in which the first layer, thesecond layer, and the third layer are formed on the base film. Bycutting the insulating resin sheet body every specified dimension, thereis an thermosetting resin sheet 6 as shown in FIG. 63C, FIG. 64C andFIG. 67A.

According to the method for forming the insulating resin layer directlyon the circuit board 4, the resin material most appropriate for theelectronic component is selected and arranged on the electroniccomponent side of the insulating resin layer on a side of manufacturingthe electronic component unit, while the resin material most appropriatefor the board can be selected and arranged on the board side, allowingthe degree of freedom of selecting the resin can be improved.

In contrast to this, according to the method of manufacturing theinsulating resin sheet body, a lot of the thermosetting resin sheets 6can be collectively manufactured although the degree of freedom ofselection is less than the above-mentioned case. This leads to asatisfactory manufacturing efficiency and an inexpensive cost and needsonly one sticking device.

As described above, according to the aforementioned embodiments of thepresent invention, many processes that have conventionally been neededfor bonding the electronic component of, for example, an IC chip to thecircuit board can be eliminated, and the productivity can be remarkablyimproved. That is, in the case of, for example, the stud bump bondingand the solder bump bonding described as prior art examples, it isrequired to inject an encapsulating material after flip chip bonding andput the board in a batch type furnace to perform hardening. A time ofseveral minutes per unit is required for the injection of theencapsulating material, and a time of two to five hours are required thehardening of the encapsulating material. The stud bump bonding mountingfurther needs a process for transferring Ag pastes to the bumps aspre-processing, mounting this on a board and thereafter hardening the Agpastes. Two hours are required for this process. In contrast to this,according to the methods of the aforementioned embodiments, theencapsulating process can be eliminated, allowing the productivity to beremarkably improved. Furthermore, according to the aforementionedembodiments, employing the solid or semi-solid insulating resinencapsulating sheet allows the employment of, for example, epoxy resinof a great molecular weight, allows the achievement of bonding in ashort time of about 10 to 20 seconds, allows the reduction in bondingtime and allows the productivity to be further improved. When thethermosetting resin sheet 6 or the thermosetting adhesive 306 b, whichhas no conductive particle as a bonding material, is employed, there isno need for adding conductive particles into the insulating resin bycomparison with the method described in connection with the second priorart. Therefore, an inexpensive IC chip mounting method and apparatus canbe provided.

Furthermore, the following effects can be produced.

(1) Bump Formation

According to the method of forming a bump with plating (third priorart), a special bump forming process is required to be performed by thesemiconductor manufacturer, and therefore, the bump formation can beformed only by the limited manufacturers. However, according to theaforementioned embodiments of the present invention, IC chips forgeneral-purpose wire bonding can be employed by means of a wire bondingdevice, and IC chips can easily be available. The reason why the ICchips for general-purpose wire bonding can be employed is that bumps canbe formed on ordinary IC pads on which Al pads are formed by means of awire bonding device or a bump bonding apparatus so long as the IC chipsare for wire bonding use. On the other hand, in order to form platingbumps by the method of forming bumps with plating (third prior art),there are the processes of forming barrier metals of Ti, Cu, Cr, or thelike on Al pads, applying a resist by spin coating, and forming holes byexposure only in the bump forming portions. The bumps are formed byelectrifying this and plating the hole portions with Au or the like.Therefore, a large-scale plating apparatus and a waste disposal plant ofhazardous substances such as cyanides are needed to form the platingbumps, and therefore, it is practically impossible to do so in a factorythat carries out the ordinary assembly processes.

Moreover, the bump leveling for stabilizing the amount of transfer ofthe adhesive in an unstable transfer process of transfer such as thetransfer of the conductive adhesive becomes unnecessary by comparisonwith the method of the first prior art, and the leveling device for sucha leveling process becomes unnecessary. The above is because it is notrequired to preliminarily level only the bumps since the bumps arecrushed on the electrodes of the board while pressurizing the bumps.

Moreover, if the following method is adopted, bonding of highreliability can also be achieved even when bump(s) 103 is bonded to theelectrode(s) 5 of the circuit board 4 as mounted with a shift. That is,when forming the bumps 3 on the IC chip 1, a gold ball 96 a is formed bysubjecting the gold wire to an electric spark similarly to the wirebonding. Next, a ball 96 a of a Φd-Bump of the diameter denoted by 95 ais formed, and a bump 103 is formed on the electrode 2 of the IC chip 1by supersonic waves and thermocompression-bonding by means of acapillary 193 designed so that a chamfer diameter φD denoted by 93 a ofthe capillary 193 whose chamfer angle θc is not greater than 100°becomes one-half to three-fourths the gold ball diameter d-Bump and noflat portion is provided in the portion to be brought in contact withthe gold ball 96 a of a capillary 193 in terms of tip shape. By usingthe capillary 193 that has the above-mentioned configuration,approximately conically tipped bumps 103 as shown in FIG. 47B can beformed on the electrodes 2 of the IC chip 1. Even when the bumps 103formed by the aforementioned method are mounted on the electrodes 5 ofthe circuit board 4 while being shifted by a dimension Z as shown inFIG. 48C, the bumps 103 can partially come in contact with theelectrodes 5 of the board 4 without fail so long as the shift is notgreater than half the outside diameter of the bump 103 since the bumps103 have the approximately conically tipped shape. The so-called base 3g of a width dimension d of the bump 3 partially comes in contact withthe electrode in FIG. 48D of the conventional bump 3. However, thiscontact is mere partial contact, leading to unstable bonding. If this issubjected to a thermal shock test or reflow, the bonded portion becomesopen. The present invention can eliminate the above-mentioned unstablebonding and provide the bonding of high production yield and highreliability.

(2) Bonding of IC Chip to Circuit Board

According to the method of the second prior art, the connectionresistance has been depended on the number of conductive particles thatexist between the bump and the electrode of the circuit board. However,according to the aforementioned embodiments of the present invention,the bump 3 can be directly connected to the electrode 5 by being pressedagainst the electrode 5 of the circuit board 4 with a load (for example,a pressure force of not smaller than 20 gf per bump 3) heavier than inthe first and second prior art examples without being leveled in theleveling process as an independent process. Therefore, the connectionresistance value does not depend on the number of interposed particles,and the connection resistance value can be stably obtained.

Although the conventional leveling process has been performed in orderto shape the bump height constant at the time of bonding to the boardelectrode, the crushing of the bumps 3 can be performed concurrentlywith the bonding to the electrodes 2 or 5 in each of the embodiments ofthe present invention. Therefore, no independent leveling process isneeded, and the bonding can be achieved while correcting the warp andundulation of the circuit board 4 by deforming the same, or the bondingis achieved while correcting the warp and undulation of the circuitboard 4 by deforming the same without the need for the leveling processof the bumps 3 and 103 by hardening the conductive paste stuck to thebumps 3 and 103 and deforming the conductive paste at the time ofbonding. Accordingly, this arrangement tolerates the warp andundulation.

There are needed a high-accuracy board 4 and the leveling of the bumps 3and 103, as exemplified by 10 μm per IC chip (meaning that a thicknesswarp dimension accuracy of 10 μm per IC chip is needed) in the firstprior art, 2 μm per IC chip in the second prior art, and 1 μm per ICchip in the third prior art (bump height variation of not greater than±1 μm). In practice, a glass board represented by LCD is employed. Incontrast to this, according to the aforementioned embodiments of thepresent invention, the bonding is achieved while correcting the warp andundulation of the circuit board 4 by deforming the same at the time ofbonding. Therefore, a board of a degraded surface flatness includingwarp and undulation, exemplified by a resin board, a flexible board, amultilayer ceramic board, or the like, can be employed, and a lessexpensive versatile IC chip bonding method can be provided.

If the volume of the thermosetting resin 306 m located between the ICchip 1 and the circuit board 4 is set greater than the volume of thespace between the IC chip 1 and the circuit board 4, then the resinflows out of this space, producing the encapsulating effect. Therefore,it is not required to lay an encapsulation resin (underfill coat) underthe IC chip after the bonding of the IC chip to the circuit board withthe conductive adhesive, which has been needed in the first prior art,and the process can be shortened.

By mixing the inorganic filler 6 f with the thermosetting resin 306 m byabout 5 to 90 wt % of the thermosetting resin 306 m, the elastic modulusand the coefficient of thermal expansion of the thermosetting resin canbe controlled to be optimum for the board 4. In addition to this, ifthis is utilized for the ordinary plating bump, then the inorganicfiller enters the space between the bump and the circuit board,degrading the bonding reliability. However, if the stud bump (formingmethod utilizing wire bonding) is employed as in the aforementionedembodiments of the present invention, then the inorganic filler 6 f andalso the thermosetting resin 306 m are forced outwardly of the bumps 3and 103 by the pointed bumps 3 and 103 that enter the thermosettingresin 306 m at the beginning of the bonding. By this operation, theinorganic filler 6 f and the thermosetting resin 306 m are forcedoutwardly of the space between the bumps 3 and 103 and the electrodes 5and 2 in the process of the deformation of the pointed bumps 3 and 103,and the unnecessary interposed object can be eliminated, allowing thereliability to be further improved.

According to the present invention described above, the method andapparatus for bonding electronic components such as IC chips to circuitboards can be provided with higher productivity and lower cost thanthose of the conventional bonding method.

As described above, the present invention is able to eliminate theprocesses that have conventionally been needed for bonding an electroniccomponent to a circuit board and remarkably improve the productivity.

When an insulating resin having no conductive particle (for example, athermosetting resin sheet or a thermosetting adhesive) is employed as abonding material, there is no need for adding conductive particles intothe insulating resin by comparison with the method described inconnection with the second prior art. Therefore, an inexpensiveelectronic component mounting method and apparatus can be provided.

The following effects can also be produced.

(1) Bump Formation

According to the method of forming a bump with plating (third priorart), a special bump forming process is required to be performed by thesemiconductor manufacturer, and therefore, the bump formation can beformed only by the limited manufacturers. However, according to thepresent invention, IC chips for general-purpose wire bonding can beemployed as an example of the electronic component by means of a wirebonding device, and IC chips can easily be available.

Moreover, the bump leveling for stabilizing the amount of transfer ofthe adhesive in an unstable transfer process of transfer such as thetransfer of the conductive adhesive becomes unnecessary by comparisonwith the method of the first prior art, and the leveling device for sucha leveling process becomes unnecessary.

If the approximately conically tipped bumps are formed on the electrodesof an electronic component, even when the bumps are mounted on theelectrodes of the circuit board while being shifted, the bumps canpartially come in contact with the electrodes of the board without failso long as the shift is not greater than half the outside diameter ofthe bump since the bumps have the approximately conically tipped shape.According to the conventional bumps, the so-called bases of the bumpspartially come in contact with the electrodes. However, this contact ismere partial contact, leading to unstable bonding. If this is subjectedto a thermal shock test or reflow, the bonded portions become open. Thepresent invention can eliminate the above-mentioned unstable bonding andprovide the bonding of high production yield and high reliability.

(2) Bonding of IC Chip to Circuit Board

According to the method of the second prior art, the connectionresistance has been depended on the number of conductive particles thatexist between the bump and the electrode of the circuit board. However,according to the present invention, the bumps can be directly connectedto the electrodes by being pressed against the electrodes of the circuitboard with a load (for example, a pressure force of not smaller than 20gf per bump) heavier than in the first and second prior art exampleswithout being leveled in the leveling process as an independent process.Therefore, the connection resistance value does not depend on the numberof interposed particles, and the connection resistance value can bestably obtained.

Although the conventional leveling process has been performed in orderto shape the bump heights constant at the time of bonding to the boardelectrodes, the crushing of the bumps can be performed concurrently withthe bonding to the electrodes according to the present invention.Therefore, no independent leveling process is needed, and the bondingcan be achieved while correcting the warp and undulation of the circuitboard by deforming the same, or the bonding is achieved while correctingthe warp and undulation of the circuit board by deforming the samewithout the need for the leveling process of the bumps by hardening theconductive paste stuck to the bumps and deforming the conductive pasteat the time of bonding. Accordingly, this arrangement tolerates the warpand undulation.

There are needed a high-accuracy board and the leveling of the bumps, asexemplified by 10 μm per IC chip (meaning that a thickness warpdimension accuracy of 10 μm per IC chip is needed) in the first priorart, 2 μm per IC chip in the second prior art, and 1 μm per IC chip inthe third prior art (bump height variation of not greater than ±1 μm).In practice, a glass board represented by LCD is employed. In contrastto this, according to the present invention, the bonding is achievedwhile correcting the warp and undulation of the circuit board bydeforming the same at the time of bonding. Therefore, a board of adegraded surface flatness including warp and undulation, exemplified bya resin board, a flexible board, a multilayer ceramic board, or thelike, can be employed, and a less expensive versatile IC chip bondingmethod can be provided.

If the volume of the insulating resin located between the electroniccomponent and the circuit board is set greater than the volume of thespace between the electronic component and the circuit board, then theresin flows out of this space, producing the encapsulating effect.Therefore, it is not required to lay an encapsulation resin (underfillcoat) under the IC chip after the bonding of the IC chip to the circuitboard with the conductive adhesive, which has been needed in the firstprior art, and the process can be shortened.

By mixing the inorganic filler with the insulating resin by about 5 to90 wt % of the insulating resin, the elastic modulus and the coefficientof thermal expansion of the insulating resin can be controlled to beoptimum for the board. In addition to this, if this is utilized for theordinary plating bump, then the inorganic filler enters the spacebetween the bump and the circuit board, degrading the bondingreliability. However, if the stud bumps (forming method utilizing wirebonding) are employed as in the present invention, then the inorganicfiller and also the insulating resin are forced outwardly of the bumpsby the pointed bumps that enter the insulating resin at the beginning ofthe bonding. By this operation, the inorganic filler and the insulatingresin are forced outwardly of the space between the bumps and theelectrodes in the process of the deformation of the pointed bumps, andthe unnecessary interposed object can be eliminated, allowing thereliability to be further improved.

When the inorganic filler of the same weight is mixed, by employing aninorganic filler that has a mean particle diameter of not smaller than 3μm, employing an inorganic filler that has a plurality of different meanparticle diameters, employing inorganic fillers in which the meanparticle diameter of one inorganic filler is two times or more differentfrom the mean particle diameter of the other inorganic filler, oremploying at least two types of inorganic fillers in which one inorganicfiller has a mean particle diameter exceeding 3 μm and the otherinorganic filler has a mean particle diameter of not greater than 3 μm,the amount of moisture absorption to the periphery of the inorganicfiller can be reduced to allow the moisture resistance to be improvedand allow the amount of the inorganic filler to be increased,facilitating the film formation (solidification). Furthermore, thecoefficient of linear expansion of the insulating resin layer of, forexample, the resin sheet or the adhesive can be reduced, allowing theoperating life to be increased, for the improvement in reliability.

Furthermore, if the one inorganic filler of the larger mean particlediameter is made of a material identical to the aforementionedinsulating resin, then the stress alleviating effect can be produced. Ifthe one inorganic filler of the larger mean particle diameter is madesofter than the epoxy resin that serves as the insulating resin and theone inorganic filler is compressed, then the stress alleviating effectcan also be produced.

Moreover, if the inorganic filler is not existing or reduced in amountin the bonding interface between the electronic component or the boardand the insulating resin layer, the innate adhesion of the insulatingresin is effected. This increases the insulating resin of high adhesionin the bonding interface, allowing the adhesion strength of theelectronic component or the board and the insulating resin to beimproved and improving the adhesion to the electronic component or theboard with the effect of reducing the coefficient of linear expansion bythe inorganic filler kept intact. With this arrangement, the operatinglife is improved during a variety of reliability tests, and the peelstrength to bending is improved.

Furthermore, by employing an insulating resin, which improves theadhesion to the film material used on the surface of the electroniccomponent in the portion or layer brought in contact with the electroniccomponent and employing the insulating resin, which improves theadhesion to the material of the board surface, in the portion or layerbrought in contact with the board, the adhesion can further be improved.

In each of the aforementioned embodiments, it is acceptable to applyheat from the electronic component side or from the board side or fromboth the electronic component side and the board side after performingboth the process of metallically bonding the gold bumps to the boardelectrodes with supersonic waves applied and the process of correctingthe warp and undulation of the board and crushing the bump withoutapplying heat to both the electronic component and the board.

As described above, according to the present invention, there can beprovided the method and apparatus for bonding electronic components toboards with high productivity and high reliability without needing theresin encapsulating process to pour resin between the electroniccomponent and the board and the bump leveling process for regulating thebump height constant after the bonding of the electronic component tothe circuit board.

Although the present invention has been fully described in connectionwith the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to theaccompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes andmodifications are apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes andmodifications are to be understood as included within the scope of thepresent invention as defined by the appended claims unless they departtherefrom.

1-45. (canceled)
 46. A method of mounting an electronic component,comprising: forming a ball at a tip of a metal wire; forming a pointedbump by thermocompression-bonding said ball to a first electrode of anelectronic component; and with an insulating resin layer, including amixture of an insulating resin and an inorganic filler, interposedbetween said electronic component and a circuit board while said firstelectrode is aligned with a second electrode of said circuit board, andwithout leveling said pointed bump before said pointed bump is broughtinto contact with said second electrode of said circuit board, bondingsaid electronic component to said circuit board by hardening saidinsulating resin layer such that said first electrode becomeselectrically connected to said second electrode via said pointed bump,with said inorganic filler in said insulating resin layer being forcedoutwardly of said pointed bump by said pointed bump entering saidinsulating resin layer at a beginning of the bonding.
 47. The methodaccording to claim 46, wherein forming a ball at a tip of a metal wirecomprises subjecting said metal wire to an electric spark.
 48. Themethod according to claim 47, wherein thermocompression bonding saidball to a first electrode includes applying supersonic waves to saidball.
 49. The method according to claim 48, further comprising: using acapillary to hold said metal wire while subjecting said metal wire tosaid electric spark, and while forming said ball into said pointed bump.50. The method according to claim 49, wherein said insulating resinlayer comprises a solid or semi-solid insulating resin layer, andbonding said electronic component to said circuit board comprisespressing said pointed bump against said second electrode without theleveling of said pointed bump while said solid or semi-solid insulatingresin layer is interposed between said electronic component and saidcircuit board.
 51. The method according to claim 50, wherein bondingsaid electronic component to said circuit board comprises using a toolto apply a pressure force, of at least 20 gf per pointed bump, to saidelectronic component such that said pointed bump is compressed.
 52. Themethod according to claim 51, wherein bonding said electronic componentto said circuit board further comprises applying heat to said insulatingresin layer while-using said tool to apply said pressure force to saidelectronic component.
 53. The method according to claim 52, whereinapplying heat to said insulating resin layer while using said tool toapply said pressure force to said electronic component results in anywarpage of said circuit board being corrected.
 54. The method accordingto claim 53, wherein applying heat to said insulating resin layercomprises applying heat to an electronic component side of saidinsulating resin layer, applying heat to a circuit board side of saidinsulating resin layer, or applying heat to an electronic component sideand a circuit board side of said insulating resin layer.
 55. The methodaccording to claim 54, wherein said insulating resin comprises aninsulative thermosetting epoxy resin, and an amount of said inorganicfiller is from 5 to 90 weight percent of said insulative thermosettingepoxy resin.
 56. The method according to claim 54, wherein saidelectronic component includes an additional first electrode, with anarea being defined by edges of said first electrode and said additionalfirst electrode, said insulating resin layer comprises a solidinsulating resin sheet having a surface area that is less than said areadefined by said edges of said first electrode and said additional firstelectrode, and said insulating resin layer is interposed between saidelectronic component and said circuit board by placing said solidinsulating resin sheet onto said circuit board before aligning saidfirst electrode with said second electrode of said circuit board. 57.The method according to claim 56, wherein said area defined by edges ofsaid first electrode and said additional first electrode is an areadefined by inner edges of said first electrode and said additional firstelectrode, and placing said solid insulating resin sheet onto saidcircuit board comprises placing said solid insulating resin sheet ontosaid circuit board such that said solid insulating resin sheet ispositioned within said area defined by said inner edges of said firstelectrode and said additional first electrode.
 58. The method accordingto claim 54, wherein said wire comprises a gold wire, and said capillaryhas an opening defined by a non-flat tip portion having a chamfer angleof at most 100°, such that using a capillary to hold said metal wirewhile subjecting said metal wire to said electric spark and whileforming said ball into said pointed bump comprises using said capillaryto hold said gold wire while subjecting said gold wire to said electricspark so as to form a gold ball at said opening and while forming saidgold ball into a gold pointed bump that has an approximately conicallyshaped tip by bringing said non-flat tip portion into contact with saidgold ball.
 59. The method according to claim 54, wherein said inorganicfiller comprises a first type of inorganic filler and a second type ofinorganic filler, with said first type of inorganic filler having a meanparticle diameter that is different than a mean particle diameter ofsaid second type of inorganic filler.
 60. The method according to claim59, wherein with said insulating resin layer interposed between saidelectronic component and said circuit board, a portion of saidinsulating resin layer contacts either said electronic component or saidcircuit board, with said portion having a smaller amount of saidinorganic filler than does a remainder portion of said insulating resinlayer.
 61. The method according to claim 59, wherein with saidinsulating resin layer interposed between said electronic component andsaid circuit board, a first portion of said insulating resin layercontacts said electronic component and a second portion of saidinsulating resin layer contacts said circuit board, with said firstportion having a different amount of said inorganic filler than doessaid second portion.
 62. The method according to claim 61, wherein saidfirst portion includes an insulating resin that improves adhesion to afilm material used on a surface of said electronic component, and saidsecond portion includes an insulating resin that improves adhesion to amaterial used on a surface of said circuit board.
 63. The methodaccording to claim 59, wherein with said insulating resin layerinterposed between said electronic component and said circuit board, aportion of said insulating resin layer contacts either said electroniccomponent or said circuit board, with said portion having none of saidinorganic filler therein.
 64. The method according to claim 54, whereinwith said insulating resin layer interposed between said electroniccomponent and said circuit board, a portion of said insulating resinlayer contacts either said electronic component or said circuit board,with said portion having a smaller amount of said inorganic filler thandoes a remainder portion of said insulating resin layer.
 65. The methodaccording to claim 54, wherein said inorganic filler comprises sphericalor pulverized silica or alumina.
 66. A method for mounting an electroniccomponent, comprising: forming a ball at a tip of a metal wire; formingsaid ball into a bump by thermocompression bonding said ball to a firstelectrode of an electronic component; and then with an insulating resinlayer, including a mixture of an insulating resin and an inorganicfiller, interposed between said electronic component and a circuit boardwhile said first electrode is aligned with a second electrode of saidcircuit board, (i) applying a first pressure to said electroniccomponent while applying heat to said insulating resin, and then (ii)while no longer applying said first pressure, applying a second pressureto said electronic component, with said second pressure being less thansaid first pressure, thereby bonding said electronic component to saidcircuit board by hardening said insulating resin layer such that saidfirst electrode becomes electrically connected to said second electrodevia said bump.
 67. The method according to claim 46, wherein bondingsaid electronic component to said circuit board includes applyingsupersonic waves to said bump.
 68. The method according to claim 46,wherein said insulating resin layer is interposed between saidelectronic component and said board by applying said mixture of saidinsulating resin and inorganic filler, while in a liquid form, onto saidcircuit board before aligning said first electrode with said secondelectrode of said circuit board.
 69. The method according to claim 46,wherein said insulating resin layer is interposed between saidelectronic component and said board by (i) applying said mixture of saidinsulating resin and inorganic filler, while in a liquid form, onto saidcircuit board, and then (ii) heating the liquid mixture in a furnace soas to partially solidify said mixture, before aligning said firstelectrode with said second electrode of said circuit board.
 70. Themethod according to claim 46, wherein said inorganic filler comprises afirst type of inorganic filler and a second type of inorganic filler,with said first type of inorganic filler having a mean particle diameterthat is at least twice as large as a mean particle diameter of saidsecond type of inorganic filler.
 71. The method according to claim 46,wherein said insulating resin layer comprises a first resin layer incontact with either said electronic component or said circuit board, anda second resin layer in contact with said first resin layer, with saidfirst resin layer including an insulating resin that is identical tosaid insulating resin of said mixture, and said second resin layerhaving an amount of said inorganic filler that is less than an amount ofsaid inorganic filler in said first resin layer.
 72. An apparatus formounting an electronic component, comprising: a device for forming aball at a tip of a metal wire; a device for forming a pointed bump bythermocompression-bonding the ball to a first electrode of an electroniccomponent; and a device for, with an insulating resin layer, including amixture of an insulating resin and an inorganic filler, interposedbetween the electronic component and a circuit board while the firstelectrode is aligned with a second electrode of the circuit board, andwithout leveling the pointed bump before the pointed bump is broughtinto contact with the second electrode of the circuit board, bonding theelectronic component to the circuit board by hardening the insulatingresin layer such that the first electrode becomes electrically connectedto the second electrode via the pointed bump, with the inorganic fillerin the insulating resin layer being forced outwardly of the pointed bumpby the pointed bump entering the insulating resin layer at a beginningof the bonding.
 73. The apparatus according to claim 72, wherein saiddevice for forming a ball at a tip of a metal wire is for forming theball by subjecting the metal wire to an electric spark.
 74. Theapparatus according to claim 73, further comprising: a capillary to holdthe metal wire while subjecting the metal wire to the electric spark,and while forming the ball into the pointed bump.
 75. The apparatusaccording to claim 74, wherein said device for bonding the electroniccomponent to the circuit board comprises a tool for applying a pressureforce, of at least 20 gf per bump, to the electronic component duringbonding of the electronic component to the circuit board.
 76. Theapparatus according to claim 75, further comprising: a device forapplying heat to the insulating resin layer while using said tool toapply the pressure force to the electronic component.
 77. The apparatusaccording to claim 76, wherein said device for applying heat to theinsulating resin layer, and said tool for applying the pressure force tothe electronic component, results in any warpage of the circuit boardbeing corrected when used to bond the electronic component to thecircuit board.
 78. The apparatus according to claim 77, wherein saiddevice for forming the ball into a pointed bump is for forming the ballinto the pointed bump by also applying supersonic waves to the ball. 79.The apparatus according to claim 78, wherein the insulating resin layercomprises a solid or semi-solid insulating resin layer, and said devicefor bonding the electronic component to the circuit board is forpressing the pointed bump against the second electrode without theleveling of the pointed bump while the solid or semi-solid insulatingresin layer is interposed between the electronic component and thecircuit board.
 80. The apparatus according to claim 79, furthercomprising: a device for placing the solid or semi-solid insulatingresin layer onto the circuit board or the electronic component such thatthe solid or semi-solid insulating resin layer becomes interposedbetween the electronic component and the circuit board.
 81. Theapparatus according to claim 80, wherein said capillary has an openingdefined by a non-flat tip portion having a chamfer angle of at most100°, such that when said capillary is used to hold the metal wire whilesubjecting the metal wire to the electric spark and while forming theball into the pointed bump, said capillary holds the metal wire whilesubjecting the metal wire to the electric spark so as to form a metalball at said opening and while forming the metal ball into a metalpointed bump that has an approximately conically shaped tip by bringingsaid non-flat tip portion into contact with the metal ball.
 82. Theapparatus according to claim 76, wherein said device for applying heatto the insulating resin layer while using said tool to apply thepressure force to the electronic component comprises a heating device insaid tool.
 83. The apparatus according to claim 82, further comprising:a support for supporting the circuit board while said tool is applyingthe pressure force to the electronic component; and a heating device, insaid support, for applying heat to the insulating resin layer.
 84. Theapparatus according to claim 76, further comprising: a support forsupporting the circuit board while said tool is applying the pressureforce to the electronic component, wherein said device for applying heatto the insulating resin layer while using said tool to apply thepressure force to the electronic component comprises a heating device insaid support.
 85. The apparatus according to claim 72, wherein saiddevice for bonding the electronic component to the circuit boardcomprises a device that is constructed and arranged to (i) apply a firstpressure to the electronic component while applying heat to theinsulating resin, and then (ii) while no longer applying the firstpressure, apply a second pressure to the electronic component, with thesecond pressure being less than the first pressure, during bonding ofthe electronic component to the circuit board.
 86. The apparatusaccording to claim 72, wherein said device for bonding the electroniccomponent to the circuit board includes a device for applying supersonicwaves to the pointed bump.
 87. The apparatus according to claim 72,further comprising: a furnace to heat a mixture of the insulating resinand inorganic filler, while in a liquid form and on the circuit board,so as to partially solidify the mixture before the first electrode isaligned with the second electrode of the circuit board.
 88. Anelectronic component unit comprising: an electronic component mountedonto a circuit board, wherein said electronic component is mounted ontosaid circuit board by performing the method of claim
 46. 89. Anelectronic component unit comprising: an electronic component mountedonto a circuit board, wherein said electronic component is mounted ontosaid circuit board by performing the method of claim
 54. 90. Anelectronic component unit comprising: an electronic component mountedonto a circuit board, wherein said electronic component is mounted ontosaid circuit board by performing the method of claim
 66. 91. Anelectronic component unit comprising: an electronic component mountedonto a circuit board, wherein said electronic component is mounted ontosaid circuit board by performing the method of claim
 67. 92. Anelectronic component unit comprising: an electronic component mountedonto a circuit board, wherein said electronic component is mounted ontosaid circuit board by performing the method of claim
 68. 93. Anelectronic component unit comprising: an electronic component mountedonto a circuit board, wherein said electronic component is mounted ontosaid circuit board by performing the method of claim
 69. 94. Anelectronic component unit comprising: an electronic component mountedonto a circuit board, wherein said electronic component is mounted ontosaid circuit board by performing the method of claim
 70. 95. Anelectronic component unit comprising: an electronic component mountedonto a circuit board, wherein said electronic component is mounted ontosaid circuit board by performing the method of claim
 71. 96. Anelectronic component unit comprising: an electronic component mountedonto a circuit board, wherein said electronic component is mounted ontosaid circuit board by performing the method of claim
 55. 97. Anelectronic component unit comprising: an electronic component mountedonto a circuit board, wherein said electronic component is mounted ontosaid circuit board by performing the method of claim
 56. 98. Anelectronic component unit comprising: an electronic component mountedonto a circuit board, wherein said electronic component is mounted ontosaid circuit board by performing the method of claim
 58. 99. Anelectronic component unit comprising: an electronic component mountedonto a circuit board, wherein said electronic component is mounted ontosaid circuit board by performing the method of claim
 59. 100. Anelectronic component unit comprising: an electronic component mountedonto a circuit board, wherein said electronic component is mounted ontosaid circuit board by performing the method of claim 64.